


Passing Storms

by bcbdrums



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Being Lost, Cockroaches, F/M, First Kiss, Getting Together, Kissing, Love Confessions, No Sex, No Smut, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rain, Sharing a Bed, Tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23937121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bcbdrums/pseuds/bcbdrums
Summary: Drakken whirled to face her and at that moment lightning struck close by and illuminated the entire cabin, including Shego's frantic face. The immediate peal of thunder had them both jumping in fright, and Drakken slipped on the massive puddle caused by the leaky roof. A moment later he hit the floorboards hard, and a heavy impact on top of him had him scrambling as he realized Shego had fallen too."I'm sorry!" he cried as he struggled to get out from under her, the thunder drowning out the rest of his desperate apology."Dr. D., stop!" He felt her fingers dig into his wrists as he tried to get away from her.He closed his eyes tightly and froze, afraid that anything he said or did would be wrong. He focused on calming his heavy breathing and hoped Shego was okay."You don't have to freak out if you touch me," she said.He shook his head. "But I shouldn't touch you. You don't want me to."She looked away and out the door, the hurt in her eyes growing. When she turned back to face him her eyes were downcast. Her next words were so soft and hesitant, he almost couldn't hear them above the rain."Please touch me.""What...?" he breathed.
Relationships: Dr. Drakken & Shego (Kim Possible), Dr. Drakken/Shego (Kim Possible)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	Passing Storms

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Answering yet another Tumblr prompt... Write your favorite fanfic trope? Hmmm... How about...ALL THE TROPES! Or several, at least. LOL I never saw this fic coming...
> 
> Many thanks to GothicThundra, whose conversation inspired several parts of this fic and who let me use the name of one of her villains. (Go read her EPIC on FFn _**right now**!!!_ Or...after you read this little one.)
> 
> Oh, and...while this fic is rated T there are some...themes discussed. Kind of an 18+ fic anyway.
> 
> This fic also includes FANART. Drawn by...ME! The fanart came before the fic...I didn't even have an idea when I drew the pic, I just...wanted to draw it. And then created a fic to fit!
> 
> I'll list the tropes I deliberately addressed in my end notes, so don't read those now because spoilers. I will say that there is a surprise twist that I expect no one will see coming and that contradicts pretty much everyone's fandom headcanon about at least one of the characters. I'm curious to see what people think! Enjoy, and please review!

The sun was high above the towering pines. Drakken picked his way carefully across the granite boulders a thousand feet above the lake, wishing his boots had traction.

 _"I told you to change,"_ he heard Shego's voice in his head. He rolled his eyes and looked down at his typical attire of lab coat that reached almost to his ankles. It really wasn't practical for what they were doing. But the nagging of the familiar voice in his head kept him from complaining.

Drakken glanced ahead at Shego as she clenched her cell phone in her hand, hopping lithely over the uneven rocks.

"The reception is...no... No. I can't hear you... Hego..."

Shego closed the phone and paused to tuck it into her ankle-pouch with a sigh.

"What did he want?" Drakken asked after a moment.

Shego looked unsettled. Drakken raised a brow and stopped, glancing down every few seconds to make sure he had his balance on the uneven boulder.

"They want me to come back," she said.

Something in her voice gave Drakken pause. It was far from the first time he had heard about the brothers asking their prodigal sister to re-join Team Go. But every other time she had scoffed in response, or worse. This time...she looked troubled.

"...So what?" Drakken finally managed, beginning to move again. He suddenly felt the need to be close to her.

"They aren't working for Global Justice anymore. They haven't been...for years. They stopped around the time I started working for you," she said, looking up at him with the same troubled and somewhat hollow look.

Drakken wasn't sure what to say. Shego had told him about her past... He knew how much she hated the organization.

"That's...good, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I just...never thought Hego would do it. I didn't think he was smart enough to figure out what a problem they were."

Drakken reached the boulder adjacent to Shego's and stopped, there not being room enough on the other for him to hop over without feeling like he would slip and tumble a thousand feet into the lake below.

"He said I could be the...'overseas branch' of the team. He doesn't even want me to move back to Go City..."

Drakken felt his heart leap into his throat. "You mean...you want to join the team again?" he asked before he could chicken out.

Shego's lips parted, and she stopped. She blinked once...twice. "Psh, not a chance. They're probably totally unproductive without Global Justice in charge of the missions."

"I thought you didn't like the missions," Drakken said.

"I don't... Case in point—we're lost," Shego said.

"We're not lost..." Drakken muttered, staring at the GPS locator in his hand.

"We've been walking around on this ridge for hours. The sun is starting to set, and see those clouds? It's gonna start raining any minute."

As if in response, a rumble of thunder echoed between the mountains, causing the both of them to look around in concern. There was no shelter if it did begin to rain, and it was growing late in the day. It had taken far more hours than they had anticipated to climb the ridge, though...Drakken wondered if Shego could have already completed the mission without him. He consulted the GPS again and then pointed across the lake to a place dark with trees.

"See that place where the treeline meets the water? I'm...sure we'll find the lair there," he reassured her.

"I still think this is a dumb idea," Shego said, turning and starting in the direction he'd pointed. "And why we're trusting Global Justice's intel is beyond me."

Drakken grimaced and followed her more slowly. It was true...they were taking a risk. But ever since saving the world they had been left in a sort-of limbo...with countries all over the world vying for their attention for interviews and inviting them to state events and ribbon-cuttings, and various militaries even asking for their strategic advice...

It was a lot. And for Drakken, too much. Shego had only been too willing when they had decided to go into hiding. But Global Justice found them soon enough and offered to pay them to go on dangerous missions that they couldn't legally send anyone else on. It had the flair of villainy...which appealed to them both. But Shego's history with the organization made her inherently distrustful of everything GJ asked of them, even though she had agreed.

That day they were searching for the rumored lair of a resurrected Monkey Fist, high in the Sierra Nevada range. Why he would be there of all places, no one knew. What they did know was that a priceless jade monkey statuette had been stolen from a museum, and that sources had sighted the simian villain putting down roots in the least likely and most difficult to reach of places.

That mission in particular wasn't something GJ couldn't send other operatives on... Just that it was dangerous and stealth was required, so they sent those who they clearly deemed to be expendable. The first few missions that had found them in life-threatening situations made that clear enough; GJ had seemed surprised when they came out alive each time.

"Who knows..." Drakken said, his heart still pounding in worry. "If it's a good lair, maybe we can take it for ourselves."

Shego paused and glanced back at him, lifting a single eyebrow. Drakken blinked.

He watched as Shego turned after a moment and continued forward over the rocks. Did she...really want to return to heroism, like her brother had asked? She hadn't seemed at all keen on anything that had happened since they saved the world from the Lorwardians. Mostly she was just...existing. And she said less and less with each passing day.

Drakken watched the sway of her hair as thunder rumbled again and the sky overhead darkened. Shego had always been something of an enigma to him. And lately...though they had known each other for nearly five years...she was more a mystery than she'd ever been.  
After the incident onstage at the UN she had been angry and demanded he immediately find a cure for his 'stupid plant powers,' which he had. Or rather, a suppressant. He couldn't destroy the plants without killing himself, but he could hold them off with medication. Even with that accomplished, Shego hadn't seemed herself around him since that day. Something was definitely off.

Gradually, rain drops began to fall and stain the granite boulders. The spots looked like random discoloration at first. But soon they began to look like polka dots, and after a few minutes...the white of the rocks beneath his feet was solid gray as the sky began to pour.

Drakken moved even more slowly across the wet, slippery stone, not daring to look up to see Shego. He knew one wrong step would definitely be his last.

A shout caused him to pause, and he squinted as he looked around and the icy rain hit his face. It was an odd scene as he took in the panorama. In one direction was the lake, its surface sparkling even more for the heavy drops that fell on it—sparkling because, the sun was still setting in the distance and the sky over the mountains was still bright and golden. In the direction he and Shego were going, however...

He turned back to where he had heard her voice and had to look up to find her. She stood up above the line of boulders on the steep grade where the pines grew thickly, beckoning to him and scowling. He started forward again. He knew he was moving slower than she would have liked, but falling to his death was even less appealing than getting drenched.

When he reached Shego she shocked him by grabbing his hand and yanking him forward. His boots, lacking traction, slipped on the wet pine needles beneath his feet and he very nearly fell face-down in the dirt. But Shego kept onward.

"Shouldn't we go back?" he called out above the rumble of thunder.

"This is less dangerous," she said bluntly.

Drakken shivered and focused on keeping his footing as Shego dragged him up higher onto the wild mountain. The thunder grew closer and the lightning brighter, but they paled in comparison to how cold the driving rain was making him. Never mind that his coat didn't have much insulation...but they were over eight thousand feet in elevation. There were patches of snow clinging to the ground in various places shaded by the trees. It had already been cold enough without the rain.

Drakken glanced up at Shego and wasn't surprised to find her shivering too. What was surprising however, was the hold she still had on his hand. Or not...since she rightly assumed he would go much slower. He was fairly stumbling up the mountain to keep up with her, and his shoulder was hurting from her continuous yanking.

Thunder rumbled again.

"Look!" Shego called over the downpour. Drakken squinted and saw what she already had. There was a cabin tucked deep within the pines on a slightly more level piece of land. Drakken didn't need any more encouragement to quicken his pace—even though he couldn't feel his feet anymore.

A few minutes later they shoved against the door together, the old wood falling open at the first touch. The cabin was darker than the deluge they had left, abandoned, and with a large puddle to the right of the door from where the ceiling was leaking. It had been a single-room home to someone once upon a time, for that was all the place was big enough for. There was a fireplace against the opposite wall. An old hand-pump faucet, sink, and two small cupboards were on the left wall nearer to the door, and a double-bed was in the corner by the fireplace where the right wall met the back wall. A table with two chairs sat in the small center of the room, with one chair overturned and a leg broken. A small rocking chair was in front of the fireplace, and there were no windows.

The rain beating on the roof was far noisier and more intimidating than the actual rain outdoors had been, Drakken thought, although at least there was hope of drying off. Shego wasted no time in hurrying toward the fireplace and surveying the scene. Drakken followed more slowly, hugging himself tightly now he had both arms free. His teeth chattered loudly in the freezing temperatures that permeated the cabin.

Shego stepped back and grabbed the broken chair and tossed it into the fireplace, no other wood being present. The good chair followed right after it, and then a green glow lit up the dark cabin as Shego set the chairs ablaze. It took several seconds for the wood to catch fire, probably due to the damp Drakken thought, but eventually the green was replaced by orange as the aged wood began to burn.

Drakken watched as Shego leaned over the rock hearth and started wringing out her wet hair, a scowl on her face. The faintest tendrils of heat began weaving through the chilly air, and that snapped Drakken back into the present. He stumbled around the table toward the hearth and first pulled his gloves off, and then his soaked boots. His fingers were numb as he pulled his socks off next, and so were his feet, but he immediately decided the cold, wooden floor would be better than his soaked socks. He divested himself of his lab coat next and hung it over the back of the rocking chair, and then pulled his shirt off.

The skin of his chest and arms immediately became covered in goosebumps, but the heat from the fire was starting to build in the tiny room. As he looked for a place to hang his damp shirt he caught sight of Shego staring at him. She was standing hunched near the fire, hugging herself and shaking from the cold. The look on her face was unreadable, but something about it made him feel like he'd done something wrong.

"Shego, you should..." His words died on his lips as he looked down at himself in his half-undressed state, and then back to her, her wet hair tangled and dripping into a puddle on the floor around her as she shivered. "Oh...I... Sorry, I..."

He pulled his shirt back on and tucked it in, his cold fingers refusing to do up the buttons. Blushing, he shoved his feet without socks back into his boots and then shrugged back into his soaked coat.

"I'll just...um... You dry off, and then call me when you're done," he said, starting toward the door.

Shego's brow rose in seeming surprise as he struggled to refasten his coat buttons. He really, really didn't want to go back out into the rain. But the idea of him drying out and warming up while Shego was still shivering in her suit was very unfair.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes. I'll just...wait outside," Drakken said. The last thing he saw as he pulled the door closed was Shego hurriedly pulling the zipper of her suit down. And then he was staring out into the pouring rain, the streaks as straight as the pine trunks as there was no wind. Beneath some of the pines were patches of snow that looked misshapen now due to the interference of the falling water. There was no awning on the cabin to protect him from the rain, and it beat down on him even as he pressed against the old wooden wall.

Drakken shivered as his thoughts ran back over the conversation he and Shego had had before the rain began, and over the ongoing discussion that had largely gone un-had ever since they saved the world.

Just what were they? And what were they going to be?

The world saw them as reformed villains... But Shego had made it clear, that wasn't what she wanted to be. And as for himself...he really wasn't sure. He enjoyed his freedom, after all. He enjoyed being his own master and answering to absolutely no one, free to indulge in his ideas and whims as he saw fit.

The straight and narrow way certainly didn't offer him that.

But...it did offer fame, and recognition. He was tempted by it. And he knew that Shego knew he was. Which was why she had agreed to go along with the Global Justice missions, questionable though they had been including the one they were currently engaged on.

Shego, for her part...only seemed to be getting angrier. After those first few days of taking it all in and recovering from the fact that their world had nearly been conquered by aliens, she had begun to retreat into a place darker than he'd ever known her to go. She didn't tease him anymore, though she would insult him. She was also more inclined to have rational conversations.

And she'd been taking those calls from her brothers. He hadn't expected that to bother him. But rather than just insulting them and hanging up, she would spend several minutes on the phone with them. One time it had nearly been an hour. And while there was still plenty of shouting and arguing...she wasn't hanging up on them anymore. They were talking.

Not that Shego couldn't go back if she wanted to. It was her life, after all... There was no reason she should stay with him. The communication with her family was just surprising, given the way she had been acting.

And of course...he didn't want her to go. That took no analysis or deep thought at all.

He had grown used to her presence. Comfortable...friendly... He would even dare to say...she was his only friend. Though whether or not she viewed him in the same light was unknown to him. Doubtful, rather. Shego didn't have friends.

He found himself growing sadder and sadder the more he thought about how distant Shego was coming, the thoughts as cold and depressing as the rain. But a sudden loud shout suddenly brought his focus back and he whirled around and slammed the cabin door open, rain water flying over the threshold with him.

"What is it? She—...?"

The illumination of the firelight revealed something dark and moving at Shego's feet where she was hopping to escape from it. But that wasn't all that Drakken saw.

Shego screamed. Drakken screamed.

A second later he was outside again and slamming the door shut behind him as his chest heaved.

"Shego, I'm sorry!" he shouted immediately.

"Why did you come in!?" he heard her scream through the walls. She sounded a mixture of angry and frantic.

"Because you shouted!" he called back, not in excuse but in explanation. Though he supposed they were the same thing.

"Stay out!" she shouted, this time her fury unmistakable.

"I will!" he assured her loudly just as lightning flashed overhead and the thunder cracked, covering any response Shego might have given. Drakken jumped and then sat down against the cabin's outer wall, drawing his knees up to his chest and hugging them as he whimpered.

He didn't know what would be worse...dying in the storm, or dying at the hand of his angry side-kick.

After a few minutes of shivering, his racing heart and heavy breathing began to calm. He grew thoughtful as he set his face down to rest on his soggy knees, the rain beating against the back of his head and his back.

As a villain, he'd had many unique, varied, and downright wild life experiences that could probably best the lists of even the greatest thrill-seekers. But at his advanced middle-age he would have been very embarrassed to admit to anyone that there was a seemingly startling yet banal absence from the list. Drakken had never in fact, actually seen a naked woman.

Well, he had now.

If he closed his eyes he saw the image again of Shego hopping to escape the moving objects on the cabin floor. If he shook his head to erase it, it came back a moment later anyway. And even more shamefully, he _wanted_ to recall that brief second of what he'd seen.

"Cockroaches..." he muttered as his mind filled in the blank of what had been moving on the floor. They had been enormous, black cockroaches, disturbed either by the rain or the fire. And they had been crawling across Shego's feet, which explained her shout.

A sick feeling swirled in his stomach as he realized...it was even less likely she'd want to stick with him after what had just happened. If she was already having doubts about their uncertain place in the world and considering rejoining her brothers...this incident would definitely be a push in the hero-direction.

He closed his eyes and was met again with the image of her flawless green skin. He grit his teeth and tried to shake the vision away. If she started calling him things like pervert and Peeping Tom, he would certainly deserve them.

The sound of the rain eventually overtook every thought he was having, and before long his focus turned to how violently he was shivering. He was definitely sitting in a puddle despite the layers of pine needles on the forest floor. And without socks his feet were in the unusual position of being both numb and chafed inside his boots at the same time. He'd forgotten his gloves so his hands were freezing as well, though he'd tucked them under his armpits in an attempt to keep them warm. His face felt like he had been holding it inside the door of a freezer, and his breaths were starting to feel shallow as he realized the temperature of the surrounding air was dropping.

When he closed his eyes against the gray curtain of rain again, blessedly all he saw was darkness.

Darkness was welcome for a few reasons, he mused. No images he shouldn't be seeing was the most obvious reason. But also no distractions...no horrible thoughts of what-if, and chances not taken... What if Shego really did decide to leave? Would she stay if he put his foot down and decided to remain in villainy? And could he be happy again in villainy, after having found the recognition he'd always dreamed of in being a hero? What if he just told her how important she was to him...even though he didn't really know why? Would that affect any decision she might be considering?

What if he hadn't been afraid, and had hugged her on that alien spaceship? What if his vines hadn't grabbed her and brought them together at the UN?

He clenched his teeth and pinched his eyes more tightly closed. No, none of those thoughts were present in the darkness. So he let himself slip inside of it as the rain poured down on and around him, and shivering he slipped into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

"Drakken? Hey, Drakken?"

Drakken woke up to the familiar voice, and when he opened his eyes and saw Shego's face so close to his, he jumped and hit his head back against the cabin wall.

The rain still came down in solid sheets like glass, and as he fearfully looked up at his side-kick her face was utterly expressionless. And she was fully-clothed.

"You can come in now," she said, not even finishing the sentence before turning to go back inside.

Drakken slowly rose to his feet, his lower-half seeming to forget how to move for several seconds. His entire frame shook as he staggered back into the dark cabin, the flickering orange light from the fire only carrying about halfway into the room.

He nearly collapsed on the rock hearth, his teeth chattering loudly as he started pulling his boots off again. The task was nearly impossible with his damp, bare feet stuck to the inside of the boots and his numb fingers slipping whenever he tried to grab hold of a heel.

He finally freed his feet from the leather prisons, and then started on his lab coat. When he got it off this time he didn't bother draping it over the rocking chair to dry it, and only tossed it aside to wherever it may land. His already-unbuttoned shirt came off quickly after, and it was only when his shaking fingers attempted his belt buckle that he remembered he wasn't alone.

He peered up and around quickly until he found Shego sitting on the double-bed, her knees drawn up as she pressed into the corner where the two walls met and where the head of the bed was located. She had the threadbare, brown blanket from the bed pulled up to her shoulders.

"C-c-can I...h-h-have that?" he managed through his shaking jaw.

Shego's face was still unreadable, though as he finally made eye contact with her she definitely looked distrustful of him... And sad?

He was too cold to try to figure it out. Being left out in the rain for an indeterminate amount of time had reduced his mental processes to the expectation of death and having just enough will to fight it off. But somewhere his mind did register...her hair was dry.

She tossed him the blanket, and he dropped it over his lap before attempting his belt again. A few minutes later he'd wriggled out of his pants and indeed his underwear which was also soaked from the puddle he'd been sitting in. He kicked his clothing away and wrapped the thin blanket around him before laying down on the floor next to the hearth, not caring about anything else in that moment but the heat reaching out and almost forcefully pressing against the ice of his cheeks. But he was too cold at the moment to feel it as heat—only as a force working against the ice that threatened him.

He closed his eyes with every intention of going back to sleep until either he died or warmed up, but the creaking sound of old springs suddenly arrested his attention. He glanced up to see that Shego had slid off the bed and was only a pace away from him. The alarm that rang in his head at the disturbed and angry look on her face came a moment too late, and he was too slow to do anything before his blanket was suddenly yanked away.

"Shego!" he screamed and reached blindly for the blanket as he curled tighter into a ball.

"You saw me. I get to see you!" she shouted indignantly as she kicked at his back in an attempt to get him to expose himself.

"It was an accident!" he shrieked, finally getting his hands on the blanket and yanking it back fiercely.

Shego inexplicably stopped her attack. Drakken wrapped himself back up, this time with much more of his body lying atop the blanket. He scooted as far away from the bed as he could while still receiving some of the heat from the fire. It was greatly diminished in the position he now found himself, almost in the opposite corner opposite the bed and hidden by the dark. Shego had resumed her position sitting on the bed where the two walls met, glaring furiously like a trapped animal. Drakken shivered now that the heat was barely reaching him.

Drakken felt his heart would burst from his chest as it beat in a wild panic. The only benefit to being inside the cabin, he realized, was not being rained on. Everything else that had occurred every time he entered the small structure had been far, far worse. And it was with that thought that he began to cry, not even caring that Shego could hear him.

 _'Let her hear...'_ he thought as he curled in even tighter on himself. What did it matter anyway? She obviously hated him for what had genuinely been an accident, and Shego had never been one to be persuaded. The fury in her eyes that night was like nothing he'd ever seen. So his tears confirming her longstanding opinion that he was nothing but a pathetic loser didn't really mean much. And that thought anchored in his mind as he listened to the rain beating down on the roof in its own attack.

Minutes passed. His cries grew quieter, but so did the fire. The chairs that had been burning were clearly nearing their end, and Drakken was still wet and freezing.

Something moved across the floor in front of Drakken's face. His eyes widened. Then something soft and tickly-feeling with many tiny feet touched his cheek.

"Yaaaahhhhh!" Drakken screamed, jumping to his feet and beating at his face as he danced over the spot where the cockroach had been crawling. A loud gasp escaped him as he caught up the blanket from where it had fallen and quickly raised it all the way to his shoulders. He felt sure he had swallowed his tongue as his eyes darted to Shego, who was watching the display expressionlessly.

"Hmph," she grunted, looking away at nothing. The anger hadn't left her eyes. He wondered if she had really seen... And if she had, would she consider it revenge served.

The tears continued their path down his cheeks as this time, he stepped into the darker part of the cabin where he'd tossed his clothes and began gathering them up. He needed them to dry if he had any hope of being decent again, and safe from Shego's cruelty.

He meticulously laid his garments out on the hearth to dry and draped his coat over the back of the rocking chair. He bundled up in the blanket again and sat in the chair, closer to the fire and where he could keep an eye on Shego. His toes and fingers still felt numb...but his teeth weren't chattering as much.

Shego glanced at him without meeting his eyes, and after a moment he closed his. The tears came with silence as he sat hunched forward, the chair moving a bit due to his trembling. He wondered if she would leave immediately after they got back to the lair... Maybe she wouldn't even go back to the lair with him.

Maybe...when the rain stopped, she would leave him stranded on the mountain.

Fear gripped his chest and drove his eyes to open.

"Shego?" he said just above a whisper.

She gave him a sideways glance, her eyes dark and distrusting.

He opened his mouth to speak...and then he froze. What if in asking her intentions, he gave her the idea to leave him up there? His jaw slowly closed as he realized he was trapped.

"Well? What?" she snapped at him.

Drakken looked down, his teeth clenching as he closed his eyes and frowned.

"If...if you're going to kill me, please, just...get it over with."

Silence was the answer.

Of course...expecting mercy of Shego was really hoping for too much. That had never been her style. She would much rather he die a slow lingering death, a prisoner of the elements until either starvation or exposure or a wild animal finally had its way with him.

The sound of a soft sigh, just barely audible above the driving rain on the roof and the quiet crackling of the fire, caused him to open his eyes.

"I'm not going to kill you," Shego said flatly.

Drakken cautiously looked up to where she was still pressed into the corner. Her eyes held more than distrust and anger... Now they also bore the sting of betrayal.

"I said I was sorry," Drakken responded to her look rather than her words as he looked back down in shame. That something so...so...inconsequential, considering everything else they had been through, could destroy their friendship in an instant... If she even considered it that...

"Shego?" He looked up again. She gave him only the barest acknowledgment through her contempt, but it was enough. "Are we friends?"

Her brow rose. He bravely watched the changing emotions on her face as she went through anger and confusion and disgust. He finally looked down, dejected. Apparently...he was the only one who thought so...

He shivered and focused on the slight warmth at his shoulder from the dying fire. He wondered if she would kindle it again if he asked her.

"Why would you ask me that now?"

Her voice startled him and he looked up into her pained and betrayed eyes.

"I...I was just...wondering if you were going to go back to your brothers, or...or stay..." The words _'with me'_ would have been next from his lips, but he suddenly found them selfish. If they weren't friends, and as it was becoming clearer that being with him wasn't what she wanted anymore...then who on earth was he to make such a request of her. It was her life, after all. He didn't even know why she was still with him.

"I... I don't think so," she answered after a long moment.

When he met her eyes again, some of the distrust had waned. But only some.

"Why not?" he asked. "If...if you don't want to, um...do missions with me anymore?"

Shego shifted and uncurled ever-so-slightly from her protective posture. "Is that what you've decided to do?"

Drakken sneezed. He wiped his nose on the blanket and shook his head as he shivered.

"I...I don't know," he answered honestly, sneezing again.

Shego slowly uncurled and shifted down to the other end of the bed, where she slid off. Drakken watched as she side-stepped to the wooden table, her wary eyes never leaving him.

Drakken hung his head and rubbed his face with his still-frozen fingers. "Shego, please..." he begged. "It was an accident. I would never...never do anything to violate..." He trailed off again as he heard her movements halt. He looked across at her to where she was staring at him, her expression showing her uncertainty.

So she really thought that little of him. He rubbed his face again and sighed.

The sounds of Shego breaking up the table caused his head to rise, and he watched as in a few crashing blows she had reduced the old wood to planks and spindles.

"Move back," she demanded.

He left the rocking chair and immediately complied, and once he was against the wall she started carrying pieces of the broken table to the fireplace. Drakken was so grateful that he didn't care that she hadn't trusted him to be sitting in close proximity to her. Being alive was better, he supposed...than losing years of partnership. Maybe.

When the planks and boards were all piled into the fireplace, Shego rekindled the flames with her glow. As the warmth began permeating the small room again she returned to her spot on the bed. Although this time, Drakken noticed, she didn't move all the way into the corner.

He cautiously retook his seat and wondered if she had decided he was worth trusting...or if she just trusted herself to be able to squash him if he tried anything. In a sudden rush, anger swept through him and a second later he found himself standing and approaching the bed.

"Just what is it you think I'm going to do?" he accused.

Shego's eyes had widened and she pressed against the wall in shock, her hands rising in front of her and glowing brightly.

Drakken's brow rose. She really did...look like a trapped animal. He scowled at his own behavior and returned to the chair.

"Sorry. That...that was uncalled for," he muttered as he pulled the blanket close over his knees again. He hoped at least his underwear would dry soon, now that the fire was back to life.

For several minutes, the only sound in the room was the crackling of the embers and the rain beating down overhead. He wondered if Global Justice hadn't sent them out that day knowing about the storm and hoping to just get rid of the two nuisances they didn't know what to do with—the woman they had failed to tame, and the villain they failed to capture, both of whom were now more famous than the ages-old organization.

"Why haven't you decided?"

Drakken looked up in surprise at the non sequitur. "What?"

"If you want to stay a villain or...be a hero. The world likes you as a hero, Doc."

Shego was edging toward the other end of the bed now, Drakken noticed. It was a more exposed position...but provided a quick escape should one be required. He hung his head.

"I was...sort of waiting...to see what you would do," he admitted.

When he looked up, her brow had risen in surprise.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked. The distrust was creeping back into her eyes, replacing the surprise.

He hung his head again. "Because I...I thought we were friends, and...I'll miss you if you go away.

Shego didn't answer. After awhile he looked up to find her eyes troubled and staring away into the darkness of the room. She must have felt his eyes on her, because she suddenly looked back at him before her gaze fell.

"I...guess we're friends, Doc..." she said, slowly rolling her eyes.

Drakken tried to decipher her expression as she tucked her knees in closer to her chest and wrapped her arms low around her legs, and finally sighed. _Friends..._ The warmth that might have brought him was halted by the fact that she was still obviously upset with him.

"Shego, please...forgive me. It was an accident. I didn't mean to..."

He watched as her gaze became fearful again. But this time he held it and didn't back down. Really, what did she think he was going to do? He narrowed his eyes and she seemed taken aback.

"I'm not...some sort of lecher," he spat at her as he curled up tighter in his blanket and looked away into the fire. "Really, Shego, this is getting ridiculous. Especially after you're the one who deliberately pulled my blanket away to...to ogle me."

Only the rain and the popping of the fire answered, and he wondered if he hadn't just made the situation worse. Shego was far more likely to blast him for his audacity than to see reason, if past precedent was anything to go by.

But then...

"Sorry, Dr. D."

He glanced back upon hearing the mumbled reply and saw that Shego had curled in on herself again, watching him nervously from behind her folded arms atop her knees.

His chilled and chapped lips trembled as he shifted back to face her, feeling a bit more confident.

"Did you really think I...that I meant to... _Me,_ of all people, Shego," he gently scolded.

She looked appropriately reproached, but there was still a modicum of distrust in her eyes. He didn't understand. After all, he wasn't afraid of her after her blanket-yanking antics... Though he would definitely hold tighter to the fabric if she approached him again.

After all, it was just Shego... And though he knew she could probably end his life with more efficiency than a bullet, she had been his side-kick and confidant for nearly five years. Even if she did do something so awful as attack him, he would expect that there was some deeper reason. He trusted her.

Something clicked in his mind.

"...Don't you trust me?" he asked, peering at her in astonishment, and...if he was honest, hurt.

A moment passed, and then Shego slowly rolled her eyes.

"Yeah...I guess."

Drakken was readying his retort, but Shego's next words brought a confusion that made everything else in his mind fade away.

"It's just that no one's ever... You're the only one who..."

Drakken's brow furrowed. "What?" She...certainly couldn't be saying what he thought she was?

Shego's gaze grew darker and more defensive. "You don't know what it's like being a woman. Especially being a woman _and_ a super-hero."

Drakken shifted in the chair to be more comfortable as he looked at her, trying to follow her mental leaps. She wasn't making any sense.

"I don't understand," he said after a few moments, shaking his head.

Shego rolled her eyes again. "Exactly. It's...it's just... Okay," she said, seeming to resolve something as she turned slightly to face him. Though her knees remained drawn up and her back pressed against the wall. He noted a tremor in her frame that for some reason he doubted had anything to do with the cold. "You know those creeps we always refuse to have dealings with? People like..." she shuddered, "Gemini, or...Dollmaker..."

Drakken felt like shuddering himself, and he'd only ever heard her stories about villains that evil. Stories she had trusted him with...which made her behavior all the more perplexing.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Creeps like that... I mean, men have been looking at me since I was twelve..."

Drakken blinked several times, failing to connect the dots.

"But...why?" he asked.

Shego stared at him in disbelief. Gradually, slowly he began to follow her train of thought. His eyes widened and his jaw worked soundlessly as he shook his head in shock.

"It was always me they would threaten to capture... Well, sometimes my brothers too. But people like that were always very...specific in their threats against me," Shego continued, her eyes downcast. "They didn't leave any of...their brand of evil to my imagination. And since I was a hero it was worse. I was some sort of...prize. Who would be the first man to...to... Even the everyday thugs we took down would look at me, and...say things."

Drakken felt very afraid. He didn't yet understand the connection between Shego's distrust of him and the past fears she had been slave to, but it was clear that she saw one. He waited silently and listened intently as she continued.

"My brothers protected me though... And I protected myself," she said, leaning back and lifting her hands to ignite them. Drakken watched as she stared thoughtfully into the glow, her eyes shining brighter for the verdant light that also revealed the dark terror deep inside. "But the talk and the threats never stopped... From the time I was twelve until the last battle I fought alongside my brothers. People only got more perverted the older I got. But I got better too."

She flared her hands so brightly that Drakken could feel the heat and the cabin was brightly lit in green. A moment later she let the glow go out and looked up at Drakken, her cheeks flushed an odd color in the flickering firelight.

"So because of all that, I've always been...sort of inside my own bubble," she finished, glancing at him and suddenly tensing. "Doc, the...the last time someone saw me...naked, was probably my mom when I was about thirteen."

Drakken felt blood rush to his cheeks and he suddenly discovered the need to look anywhere but at her face. He closed his eyes...but an image of pale green skin that he absolutely should not see flashed through his mind. He shook his head and stared into the orange glow of the fire. He latched onto his ever-ready defense of talking and his mouth moved before he could process the words he was speaking.

"My mother walked in on me in the shower one time when I was sixteen," he blurted out. "That was the last time anyone ever saw me—"

He stopped as something else suddenly occurred to him, and he looked back at her in perplexity. All the expensive vacations she went on...and her nights out that sometimes resulted in her not returning until the next day. He had always assumed that she wasn't going to those places alone, or if she was that she didn't remain alone once at her destination. But what she had just revealed threw that into question...

No...no. If she wasn't lying, there was no question at all. Or about what he had just carelessly revealed, either.

"You mean you've never... I thought you...that is, I assumed..."

Her expression grew black as she followed his thoughts.

"I'm not a slut!" she said with a scowl, turning her furious eyes away toward a dark corner near the front of the room.

Drakken waved his hands as his mouth tried to formulate a defense, and the blanket slipped from his shoulders and revealed his chest. He gasped and gathered it up again as she looked back at him.

"No, no, that's not—! I mean, I assumed... No! I, I didn't assume... Why are we having this conversation?" he stuttered.

"Because you barged in on me while I was naked!"

"It was an _accident!_ " he whined, dropping his face into his hands. "Please Shego, I'm so sorry. I'm not one of those creeps you used to have to fight off."

"If you ever show even the slightest chance of becoming one, you're dead," she threatened.

Drakken looked up at her hurting and enraged eyes.

"I thought you said we were friends," he said glumly.

"I thought I could trust you," she retorted.

Drakken dropped his face in his hands again, his fingers still a bit chilly from the cold.

"Then tell me what I should have done. What would you have done differently, if it had been you outside and me inside, and you had heard _me_ shout?"

He didn't expect an answer as he stared at the dancing lights that began to form behind his eyelids. She obviously had some sort of past trauma from dealing with creepy thugs and villains of the type he had always dissociated from. And it was clear now, that trauma had prompted her reaction.

But...to him? Of all people?

_"I thought I could trust you."_

Her words were like the final nail in a coffin. He'd been hoping for too much, he realized. Maybe they were 'friendly'... Maybe she'd even trusted him with her secrets at times. But it was only because she had the power to destroy him literally at her fingertips, like she did any other creep who may come to call. He'd been hoping for a fantasy... She didn't consider them anything special to one another at all.

For the third time that night, tears began slipping down his cheeks. The loss he suddenly felt was far greater than that of the trust he had unwittingly destroyed—five years of precious memories had suddenly fallen into question, and he wondered if any of their shared joys had been truly shared at all.

He wanted to believe at least some of it was real. But the way she kept looking at him...spoke of a different truth. He was nothing to her. The reason she hadn't left him yet was probably just because she didn't know where to go as a potentially-reformed villain, and sticking around was easy. It didn't have anything to do with her possibly actually wanting to stay with him, or any sort of attachment.

He sniffled and wiped his nose on the blanket, willing himself not to sob until he was far, far away from her and alone. He could grieve once she was gone. And for the present...he would just worry about getting them both back down the mountain safely, once the rain stopped.

To hell with Global Justice and their hair-brained missions. And to hell with heroism in general. He could become one of the quasi-villainous mad scientists. They certainly existed. They made their fortunes through sale of their morally-questionable inventions. And if sometimes he sold to a fellow villain—former fellow villain—what did it matter? Governments always looked the other way since they needed talent and ability like that too. A mad scientist was always needed by someone. He could just go about it in a way that didn't end him up in prison...

Yes. It was a good idea, he decided.

_'That's what I'll do... When Shego leaves, I'll become a legitimate-business mad scientist...'_

The idea actually brought a tiny swell of happiness into his tortured heart. He wanted to tell Shego about it...until he remembered that she wouldn't care. She had never cared about anything he wanted to tell her, only rolling her eyes, insulting him, or ignoring him altogether. Occasionally she even fell asleep during his rants. Not that it had ever stopped him, but...now that he realized that she didn't care about him at _all_... He just couldn't bring himself to do it.

The familiar sound of Shego's glow igniting brought Drakken's focus back, and he tensed as she fired a tiny blast at the floor right in front of the hearth where his clothes lie drying. A moment later he saw the smoking body of a cockroach nearly four inches in length, its life extinguished by the green flame.

He scowled as he stared at the creature that was in essence responsible for his current sorry state. Though he supposed it was better to find out sooner rather than later that his and Shego's friendship had all been in his mind.

He glanced back over his shoulder at his boots that sat on the corner of the hearth. He sniffled twice, and wiping his nose on the blanket again he gathered it up and rose from the rocking chair to retrieve one of the boots. With the heavy object in hand, he walked the few steps back around the chair and used the heel to smash the dead insect into the floorboards.

"Ew... Was that necessary?" Shego asked from her perch. "It was already dead."

Drakken couldn't answer, too devastated by the loss he felt deep in his soul. How could he have missed it? Nearly five years... Was he really that blind?

He was about to retake his seat, but another cockroach appeared suddenly from a crack beneath the hearth. He recoiled with a gasp, and before he could act Shego had again smote the creature with her glow. Drakken glanced at her nonplussed face, and then with a tiny smirk he smashed that one into the floor with his boot as well. There was something cathartic about taking revenge on the horrible little creatures that had ruined his life, even if it was Shego in fact killing them.

He realized then that his toes were only cold, and not numb. He wondered if any of his clothing had dried out yet and turned back to the hearth and bent over to check. He was glad his back was to Shego so she couldn't see him inspecting his briefs, but a strangled and disgusted gasp from the woman suddenly arrested his attention.

He started to turn...and then stopped, remembering his recent error. Even though he knew she was clothed now, surprising her at all wasn't a mistake he would ever make again. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but her shout cut him off.

"Dr. D.! Move!"

If her alarm wasn't enough, he felt a familiar horrible tickling at both of his feet. When he looked down, a veritable blanket of baby cockroaches was emerging from the cracks beneath the stone hearth.

"Nnyaaaahhhhh!" he shouted as he stumbled backward and bumped into the rocking chair, falling into it. He was aware of Shego's glow firing at the vermin as his weight took the momentum of the chair too far backwards. His arms flailed uselessly as his feet went up over his head, and with a painful crash and a graceless backwards somersault, he landed on the floor with the blanket over his eyes and at least part of the rocker on top of him.

The sound of Shego's glow stopped as he scrambled to both free himself from the crush of the chair and get his sight back. When he had managed to shove the heavy object off and had gotten himself to rights, the blanket was covering exactly no part of him. He caught it up with a horrified gasp and looked to where Shego was pressed back against the wall again, her face having gone an odd, dark color. Her wide eyes flicked once to his, and then away.

He grimaced. If she hadn't seen anything before...clearly, she'd seen it all now.

The tears were angry this time as they fell hot from his eyes. He reached out and grabbed his briefs from the hearth, and with difficulty from trying to maintain modesty beneath the blanket, he wriggled his way into his underwear not caring at all that the garment was still a bit damp. Feeling slightly safer, he glanced over the scene of smoldering roach bodies that had invaded his warm space in front of the fire.

Growling, he righted the rocking chair and set it back in the cozy space it had previously occupied, though now he had to watch his step on the floor. When he sat down he had only the briefest warning of a cracking sound before one of the chair's legs gave way and dropped him hard on the floor.

"Ngghh...nyraaahh!" he cried in frustration as he shoved himself up and began throwing the pieces of the last chair in the cabin into the fireplace. He stopped after only the first few because it was too difficult to hold his blanket up at the same time. With a heaving sigh he grabbed his pants, still damp, and crossed to the corner of the room where the least light was falling. He glanced once at Shego before he started shoving his legs into the pants, shaking roach bits off his feet before he did so. Shego's eyes were still wide and her face flushed. She had the decency to look away after he had glared at her.

He could just imagine the monologue he would be privy to once she had recovered herself. 'See how it feels,' she would say as she laughed, and would probably make fun of his sad, middle-aged figure.

He closed his eyes and cringed. If she made fun of him below the belt... Although... He opened his eyes and looked at where she was running her fingers through her hair and looking decidedly uncomfortable. If she'd been honest with him about everything she'd said before, and if her vacations weren't spent with a certain type of company as he'd assumed, then presumably...he was the only naked man she'd ever seen.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

His pants securely on, he draped the blanket over his shoulders like a shawl and went back to the fireplace to get the rest of his clothes, dry or not. It was far past time for the night's misadventures to end.

His socks were dry, thankfully, but his boots weren't so he left them off. His shirt was mostly dry, and though his coat was still damp he still put it on. He felt a need for as many layers as possible between he and Shego, after everything that had happened. Especially if she still irrationally thought him some sort of creep.

He gratefully pulled his gloves on if only to feel a bit more like himself, and then began tossing the rest of the broken rocking chair into the fire. The rain was still thundering against the roof, and he wondered again why Global Justice had sent them out on _that_ evening in particular...because surely they would have checked the weather report. It was definitely suspicious.

Drakken stumbled a bit as he avoided stepping on burned roach bits in his warm socks. He balanced carefully on the balls of his feet as he moved his boots closer to the fire, hoping he wouldn't have much longer to wait. That done he sighed and rolled his shoulders back and stretched, finally registering the pain of having the chair fall on him.

He turned to face the near-empty room, and realized...there wasn't a single stick of furniture left. He blinked as he took in again the bare walls, the puddle that took up nearly three square feet by the door where the roof leaked, and the ancient hand-pump into the sink and the cupboards adjacent.

He pulled the blanket closer around his shoulders as he looked up at the ceiling where the firelight flickered and revealed the potential rot in the wood. He turned back and picked his way through the dead roaches again, gasping as a live one suddenly appeared from beneath the hearth, and then he crouched down in front of the fire to absorb more of the heat. His ankles shook and hurt from the effort, but...the other option was just to stand there. He'd rather be nearer the warmth.

He nearly lost his balance as he watched another baby roach that had escaped Shego's wrath suddenly appear and run through the maze of the bodies of its siblings. It vanished into the dark behind him, and Drakken wondered just how many more of them there were. He hoped his ankles would last and that he wouldn't end up sitting atop the dreadful bugs.

A sigh from behind him reminded him that he wasn't alone with the insects, but he didn't turn around.

"Dr. D.... You don't have to do that," Shego said, her tone one of resignation. "You can sit up here."

He shifted cautiously until he lost his balance, thankfully falling onto the hearth and not the dead cockroaches. He peered at her warily, uncertain if such an invitation should dare be trusted.

Her expression was one of confusion and frustration. She only made eye contact with him for a moment before blinking and looking away, but then she glanced at his face again and gestured to the head of the bed that she'd abandoned.

Drakken carefully stood and moved possibly with more caution than he ever had to sit on the far end of the bed and pressed his back into the wall, never once taking his eyes off her. She looked decidedly uncomfortable with the circumstance, and after a moment he took the blanket off his shoulders and tossed it to land next to her.

"H-here, ah...you can use this now."

Shego peered at the blanket uncertainly for several seconds, but then gathered it up and wore it like a shawl as he had. He realized this kept her hands and arms free should any need to use them suddenly arise.

"Um...Dr. D.?" she said, glancing at him and looking even more uncomfortable. He noticed she was twisted a lock of hair through and around her fingers repeatedly. "You...you were right. I'm sorry." She paused and took a breath. "And...I'm sorry I pulled the blanket away from you before."

Drakken stared at her, looking for any sign of falsehood in her words. There was none. But he didn't let the apology give him too much hope.

"I understand," he said slowly. "Anyone would be mad... And it's...unpleasant," he said with a shudder, wondering just how long he'd been exposed to her. "And you've obviously had to deal with some creeps."

Shego pulled the blanket over her knees and stared straight ahead, her gaze growing distant.

"You don't know what it's like to be fourteen and still look like a beanpole, but have a...a middle-aged man tell you all the lewd things he plans to do with you. And it was all the time. It seemed like every villain and thug in Go City had united behind a single purpose where I was concerned, for...my entire life."

Drakken blinked as he imagined a scene of the young child-hero, having to fight off sexual deviants not just in pursuit of justice, but in defense of her honor and quite possibly her very life.

"I'm sorry," he said, not knowing what else to say.

"And you know, after I turned eighteen, I was featured in both _Villains_ and _Villainess_ magazine."

"What?" Drakken asked in confusion.

She glanced at him briefly, her frame relaxing ever-so slightly. "Yeah. In _Villainess_ it was all speculation about my diet, my workout, my hair-care...so that villainesses could look as good as I did while they kicked my behind. But in _Villains_ it was what some evil doctor had calculated my measurements to be, and any and every picture they could get of me out of costume showing even as little skin as my wrist, and about...how I was finally 'legal'. There was even an advertisement for an attorney for villains who got sued for sexual assault against heroines."

Shego's voice had started out low and cold as she revealed the memories that had her so on edge, but her voice had risen in timbre until it was so taut he felt something within her would break if she kept going.

Drakken felt his skin crawl at the horrible revelations she had brought. He wanted to do something to reassure her...or comfort her. His instinct was to touch her, but he knew that would be the worst possible thing at that moment.

He then considered every moment over the past several years where he _had_ touched her... Grabbed her hand, her arm, or her shoulder to get her attention or drag her off someplace... How he would impulsively hug her when he was excited or happy... Or times when their fighting Kim Possible would end with either her having fallen on him, or vice versa. And the worst of all...when his plant mutation had snatched her up and wrapped them together onstage at the UN.

How terrifying some of those moments might have been for her...especially the entrapment at the UN. But up until that evening's mishaps, she had never said a word. Her strength and ability to overcome was worthy of the highest honor and respect. He was relieved suddenly that he'd had the presence of mind to stop on the Lorwardian ship and not hug her like he'd ached to do.

"You know, _Villains_ talks about Kim Possible the same way now," Shego continued, her voice having calmed to a degree. "They're counting down the days until she's 'legal'."

"I'm...going to be a legitimate-business mad scientist," Drakken blurted out.

Shego turned and blinked at him, completely confused. "What?"

Drakken bit his lip. He wanted to help her somehow...and distraction was the method he had settled on. Getting her mind off of the horrible memories the accident that night had triggered was the task he set himself to.

"Yes...and I'll...invent amazing things and sell them to the highest bidder. If Duff Killigan wants exploding golf balls with a greater flight range before detonation? Done. Dementor wants a higher-endurance syntho-plasma? D-done," he said, cringing slightly. "And if two warring countries happen to want the same weapons of mass destruction...done. I'll have no allegiance. It will all be about...who has the deepest wallet."

Shego's expression actually softened. And the smallest hint of a smirk appeared at the corners of her mouth.

"Sounds devious," she said. "What about a lair?"

"Oh, of course I'll need to maintain one. Even legitimate-business mad scientists need a place to demonstrate their superior intellect and to strike fear into the hearts of anyone who would dare come to call. But it will probably need to be something...more Dr. Frankenstein, and less doomsday project."

Shego's expression softened further and she turned to face him and lean sideways against the wall, the blanket falling from her shoulders.

"And," he continued, "I promise not to invent anything to interfere with whatever you end up doing, for...old time's sake."

Shego's lips parted and she blinked several times, astonishment and confusion filling her eyes. She shifted to face away from him again and blinked out into the open room. She looked back at him with questioning eyes...and then away into the room again.

Drakken felt his stomach knot, wondering what he had done wrong. "Unless...um...you...won't mind the challenge?" he suggested.

Shego's demeanor didn't improve. If anything...she looked more troubled. But not in the way the trauma of the night's events had made her look. This was a sadness and a fear like he'd never seen in her, apparent even though she was trying to hide it as she swallowed slowly and tensed.

"You...don't want me to stick around?" she said casually, though he could hear her mouth had gone dry.

His eyes widened.

_'Wait... Does she not...?'_

"Well, I...if you want to," he said quickly, his pulse suddenly racing. "But why would you... If I'm not a hero _or_ a villain, just...building things all the time. You hate when I build things. And it's not like...like..."

He was forced to stop as his own mouth went dry. He was beyond confused. From the long conversations with her brothers to her revealed obvious distrust of him, and the implications about his years of misreading of their relationship...everything had seemed to be leading towards her imminent departure.

Had he read her wrong?

"I mean...I don't have to," she said, her eyes wide and staring down at the floor as she lightly shrugged. "If you don't want me to."

His hand shot out and grabbed her arm. "I want you to— _geh!_ " he gasped as he immediately let go, realizing what he'd done. "Sorry! I'm sorry!" he cried, pressing back into the corner and shielding his face.

He pinched his eyes shut as his mind raced over his self-induced impending doom. How pathetic of him to let hope cloud his judgment so fast as to forget and do the worst thing he could have done. She'd been so angry with him that she nearly left him to die in the cold and rain, and then had spent the better part of an hour staying as far away from him in the cabin as was comfortably possible. So what had he gone and done? He had selfishly touched her after she revealed that she'd spent most of her life afraid of...unwanted contact, to put it politely.

Some friend he was. He deserved whatever pain was coming.

Moments passed. Nothing happened. Drakken peeked through his fingers to where she still sat at the other end of the bed, staring at him. He couldn't read the expression on her face as it was like nothing he'd ever seen before—only that she seemed to be cycling through emotions as uncertainly as he knew he was as he struggled over the potential loss of his best friend.

That's what she was... To him, at least. Maybe he wasn't quite the nothing to her that he'd imagined, but...it was doubtful she thought of him as highly as he thought of her.

"I'm sorry," he croaked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Shego sighed silently through her nose. "It's fine," she said, seeming suddenly anxious as if she was the one who had committed an egregious error.

"No, it's not. I've never considered that...I have no right to touch you. Even if it's innocent." His face fell, though his defensive posture relaxed. "I'm sorry, Shego."

He listened to her long, slow intake of breath. "It's a lot more welcome from you than anyone else."

His brow rose in surprise as he looked up. She was staring out into the room again, a melancholy look in her eyes. She glanced at him and then patted the space next to her on the bed. His brow rose even higher and he shook his head quickly, not about to risk anything that would spoil the apparent peace between them.

She frowned lightly. "Come here," she said.

He swallowed nervously and slowly scooted the small distance across the creaky mattress that brought him to within about a foot of her. It was there he stopped even though the spot she'd patted was closer, and he leaned back against the wall as he watched her nervously.

Outside, a loud rumble of thunder joined the pounding of the rain and reminded him that there was a world outside of the pain and devastation of the cabin. A world that...once returned to, would be different, now that he'd arrived at a satisfactory conclusion. With or without Shego, he could find a place for himself as a legitimate-business mad scientist. Though he didn't think he could ever be quite as happy, without her.

 _'That title is too cumbersome...'_ he thought, trying to shake off the morose thoughts.

Shego's sudden shifting on the bed served to refocus him, and he looked to where she was watching him through a sideways glance as she leaned back against the wall.

"I didn't know you wanted me to leave," she said flatly, watching his eyes for explanation.

His jaw dropped. His hands shot toward her again, but this time he caught himself before they had even crossed half of the space. He watched Shego look down blankly to the offending appendages and then back up to his face. He put his hands in his lap and sat on them.

"I don't," he said, shaking his head. "But I didn't think you'd want to stay with me. Especially after...after everything tonight. Besides, there...isn't really any reason to. If we're not working toward the same goals," he tried to explain, giving her that freedom to just acknowledge that he was right and that it was time to go their separate ways.

And yet, he found himself holding his breath, hoping against hope that her response would erase all the horrors of that night and everything else he had bitterly imagined. Maybe it was all in his head. Maybe...she really was his friend. Maybe...

Shego didn't speak, but turned away and leaned her head back against the wall, the melancholy look having returned. And with it he saw a tension that reminded him of indecision, such as when he warred with himself almost daily about what on earth were the right words to use with a his super-human side-kick.

"And if you're not going to be happy, then...y-you should go," he concluded. It was true, after all. No matter what she may or may not feel for him...she _was_ his best friend. And he realized that a distinctly 'good' motive had wound its way into his heart like those vines he had unintentionally infected himself with. Above everything else...he did want her to be happy.

Her head lolled toward him again and she blinked sadly. "Oh, Dr. D...." she sighed, her tone back to resignation. He still didn't understand what he had missed, and it was deeply troubling.

"We get to start over now. We can do whatever we want. So just...do whatever makes you happy," he repeated.

Shego remained staring at him with that unreadable, hollow expression, any truth hidden within her eyes indiscernible. He wondered what on earth he had said to cause the change in her demeanor. At least when she was angry or scared he had an idea of what to expect. But this confusion and sadness...left him feeling very unsettled.

She took a deep breath and then her eyes became slightly thoughtful. "How did you decide that being a...whatever-scientist, would make you happy? I thought you said you didn't know."

"Well, I...actually... It's...just something I thought up while we've been sitting here. It's only right I find something to do, now."

Shego took another slow breath.

"So what you're saying..." she said slowly, "is that you still really don't know what you want?"

Drakken gulped nervously. She had caught him. But it was his own fault for revealing himself.

"Nnh...ngh...fine, I don't know what I want!" he sputtered. "Only I—"

He caught himself before he could let slip anything further. But the look in her eyes as she sat up suddenly and moved away from the protective shelter of the wall to sit more fully in front of him was melting his resolve and making him forget any thoughts he may have had. The simple openness of her eyes in that moment was enough to make him say almost anything.

What was the power she had over him, that her eyes could rend his heart in one moment and then give it life in the next?

"Only what?" she asked quietly, patiently.

"Only...whatever I do, I..." His gaze fell and he closed his eyes. Literally everything else about him had been exposed that night. It only made sense that his heart should follow. "I would be happiest...if you were with me. You're my best friend, Shego."

He was afraid to look up. She could meet the words with mocking, or disgust, or disdain... Or that unreadable nothing that she'd taken to for the past several minutes that left his soul twisting and sinking into a dark nebula with no end.

"Best friend?" he heard her ask softly.

He looked up to find her gaze curious, but still sad. What on earth had he done? Did it still have something to do with his walking on in her before? Did it have something to do with distrust?

He leaned back against the wall with a sigh and stretched his legs out on the double bed. He gazed anxiously through the empty room, his eyes landing finally on the fire, the only sign of anything positive in the dark, dismal place.

"I don't think I... Well, it would be nice...to not be alone," he said.

He could have gone on, but...it all seemed redundant at that point. It had been the unspoken conflict between them for weeks, wondering what on earth they would do now that the world was ready to forget their past and consider them heroes. And Drakken hadn't minded prevaricating on the issue. Shego had been so dark, moody, and distant for so many weeks... And Drakken knew in his heart the mostly likely outcome of any decision was that she would leave. And then his heart would break.

"I guess..." she answered.

He glanced back to where she mirrored his position about a foot distant, only her eyes still had that melancholy look. He worried again that he had done something irredeemable. He closed his eyes tightly and forced out his next words before he could change his mind.

"Shego, I'm so sorry about before. Please believe me...I have never, ever thought of you l-...like that, and I never would. It's the farthest thing from my mind."

He felt her shift, and he opened his eyes slightly to peek at where she was looking at him with what was becoming a familiar distrust. But it was absent the look of betrayal, for which he was grateful.

"So you're different from every other man on the planet?"

Drakken frowned and crossed his arms. "My mother taught me to honor and respect women."

Something in Shego's eyes changed then to that...unreadable look that lie beneath so many of her other expressions that night.

"Please," she said, a familiar caustic tone appearing in her voice. "You can't really mean you've never looked at me once all these years and not had a single debauched thought."

Drakken's frown grew as he shook his head fiercely. "No. Never. That's...that's one brand of evil I steer clear of."

She surprised him suddenly by smirking. "Why? Chicken?"

His jaw worked soundlessly for a moment before his eyes narrowed.

"What about you?" he asked, turning it back on her. "If you're so sure that's part of being a villain."

Shego's eyes widened and she looked away. He wanted to feel satisfaction at having bested her, but the fear coming back to her eyes made it apparent that that was the wrong response to take. But despite that, his stubbornness still pushed more very ill-timed words from his lips.

"It works both ways, you know. Men don't want to be...ogled or objectified any more than women."

The popping of the fire and the driving rain took over the sound in the cabin as Shego stared away into the dark. The small bit of indignance Drakken had felt vanished as he realized how cruel he was to poke at her obvious trauma, even if her own accusations against him were less than couth.

With a groan he rose from the bed, noting how she started in surprise as obviously her distrust of him had returned. He stalked across the small room to stand in front of the sink, staring down at the hand-pump faucet and the cobwebs lining the dark interior of the basin.

"Sorry..." he said quietly as he mentally berated himself. He was a terrible friend.

He reached his hands up behind his neck to stretch as he stared at the old sink and cupboard door falling off its hinges. He was still cold, though no longer wet and freezing, and there was a slight dampness to his hair. He glanced over to the hearth and a moment later picked his way through the dead cockroaches to check on his boots. They had dried to his satisfaction, and he slipped them on.

He didn't deserve to have her stay with him, the way he was behaving. No matter what he eventually decided he wanted to do. He supposed he did need to 'man up' in at least one area and stop his silent and childish hoping. He turned around to face her, nervously pressing his hands together.

"So what do you want to do?"

In yet another shocking moment, Shego recoiled and pressed back against the wall with a choked gasp and a look of terror in her eyes. Drakken whirled around to look behind him for the potential threat as his heart began to race, but he saw nothing. He looked at his feet for any more roaches, but the only ones he could see were dead.

"What is it?" he asked in alarm as he continued quickly looking around. "What's wrong?"

Silence was her answer, and finally as he could find nothing amiss in the tiny cabin he turned back to face her in confusion. Her skin was flushed and she was staring at him with an embarrassed and shocked look similar to the one she'd worn when he had gone head-over-heels in the rocking chair and been exposed. With a nervous swallow he tried to appear casual as he glanced over his appearance. But he was perfectly decent.

Shego's eyes had left his and she was staring away into a corner as her shoulders rose and fell with breaths that were too heavy, but she was blinking and very clearly trying to calm herself down from whatever had so terrified her.

"Shego?" he asked worriedly.

She glanced at him with that same wide-eyed shock. "N-...nothing. It's nothing. Sorry."

He felt uncertain. He took a step back toward the bed, and then stopped. With the look on her face, it was probably best to stay away from her. He moved back to lean against the wall opposite the bed, tucking his hands behind his back and pressing his gloved palms against the cool wood.

Shego looked at him again as normalcy slowly returned to her features. Or at least, what passed as normal for that evening.

"Sorry," she repeated. "What were you saying?"

Drakken considered shelving the question, but...later would be worse, after everything that had happened.

"I asked...what do you want to do? You said you don't want to go back to your brothers, and...you haven't kept it a secret that you don't like these 'missions' Global Justice sends us on."

"Ohh..." she said shakily, her frame seeming to relax all at once in a great relief. Drakken's brow twisted curiously. Her expression only became more troubled and Drakken wondered again what invisible enemy had caused her to be so distraught.

As he looked at her frightened, defensive posture, it was like looking at a stranger. Ever since he had mistakenly walked in on her...she had become like a different person. Not a single look that had passed through her eyes had been familiar.

He wished he could go back and time and erase it all, to before they had set out on the mission that morning. Or better, back to before the Lorwardians and his plant potion. They had still been happily scheming to take over the world and there were no questions of accepting pardons and choosing to be 'good' or...thoughts of dissolving their association.

He noticed she hadn't answered his question and his thoughts fell sadly back to the present. There was no way to go back in time. He could only hope to make the best of where they were. Although the world seemed decidedly against them.

"Do you...not know either?" he pushed, wanting to just get it over with. If he could know for sure whether or not she would be leaving, that would help him make a decision. And he was definitely leaning towards a legitimate-business...

 _'I can't use that title...'_ he mused.

"Dr. D., did you mean that?"

"What?" he asked, focusing in on her cautious and curious gaze.

"That I'm you're best friend?"

He swallowed and nodded, grateful for the ability to be honest. "Yes. You're my only friend, Shego."

There was a question in her eyes as she stared at him intently, but he didn't know what it was. He had told her the truth, as embarrassing as it was. And he hoped she knew he wasn't trying to guilt her into choosing to stay with him. If he was really going to be a friend, she deserved only his honesty.

The silence in which she stared at him endured for so long that the sound of the rain took over Drakken's thoughts again. He realized he had no idea what time it was, and there were no windows anywhere to check if there was any hint of light left outside.

"I guess... I mean, I guess I can just...work with my brothers until I decide what to do..." Shego said, turning and staring into the corner by the door. Drakken's heart leapt into his throat. "I don't really want to do hero-work, but at least I'll get some action..."

Drakken felt like the world had just dropped out from beneath his feet. There was a pain radiating from his chest out through all of his nerves, even into his bones as her words replayed in his mind.

She really...really didn't want to be with him, after all.

"Sorry..." he heard himself whisper, though he had no idea what he was apologizing for.

He had a sudden, desperate desire to escape the cabin and strode quickly to the door and flung it open. There was no light left outside, and only the fire's glow illuminated the first several inches of the outdoors where the rain still fell in a torrent. If he valued his life—and he did—there would be no escape soon from the pain inside the cabin.

"Dr. D.," he heard Shego say, and suddenly felt her hands gripping his arm. He whirled to face her, stunned, and at that moment lightning struck close by and illuminated the entire cabin, including Shego's frantic face. The immediate peal of thunder had them both jumping in fright, and as Drakken tried to move around her back into the room he slipped on the massive puddle caused by the leaky roof.

Shego's hands pulling at his arm had the effect of throwing him further off-balance, and a moment later he hit the floorboards hard. A heavy impact on top of him had him scrambling as he realized Shego had fallen too.

"I'm sorry!" he cried as he struggled to get out from under her, lightning flashing again and the boom of thunder drowning out the rest of his desperate apology. "...It was an accident, I'm sorry!" the sound of his own voice came back to his ears when the thunder died down as his hands found her shoulders and began pushing her away as he tried to sit up.

"Dr. D., stop!" He felt her fingernails dig into his wrists as he scooted back on his rear to get away from where she was still half-atop his lap, moving much more slowly in righting herself.

"I'm sorry!"

"Stop!" she said, and the feeling of her nails grew painful.

He closed his eyes tightly and froze, afraid that anything he said or did would be wrong. The rain was louder with the door open, the sound strange as the soft impacts on the pine needles covering the ground mixed with the hard sound of the drops on the roof. He focused on calming his heavy breathing and hoped Shego was okay.

He realized suddenly...he barely cared about his own well-being at all. If she blasted him...so what? He just wanted her to be okay, and to be the Shego he'd always known who enjoyed her life.

"I'm sorry!" he repeated, his eyes remaining closed. There was a safety in the dark. But it also made him more aware of his other senses, and he realized how tangled up the two of them still were. He had his left leg crossed while the other was turned out to the side and his knee was slightly bent as he'd been trying to push himself back. Shego had her left leg bent up with her knee almost touching his chest and her foot trapped between his knee and the thigh of her right leg, which was up across his left with her foot just behind him. She was holding his wrists up between them.

He realized she had stopped speaking, and he cautiously opened his eyes. The look on her face, so close to his, was one of hurt and confusion. He grimaced and then gave her a pleading look as he didn't dare to move again without permission.

"I'm sorry, Shego. The thunder...I slipped," he explained, glancing at the puddle in which thankfully neither of them had landed.

"Dr. D. I..." She glanced away and he saw her fear flash through her eyes, but then she looked back more bravely. "I forgive you."

"What?"

"I already told you. I know it was an accident, before. I shouldn't have gotten so mad."

The intensity of her grip on his wrists lessened slightly.

"And you don't have to freak out if you touch me."

He shook his head. "But I shouldn't touch you. It's not... You don't want me to."

She looked away and out the door, the hurt in her eyes growing. He felt her shudder slightly as close as they still were, and ever so slowly she began to release his wrists. When her touch was so light that it was almost nonexistant she turned back to face him, her eyes downcast. The next words she spoke were so soft and hesitant, he almost couldn't hear them above the rain.

"Please touch me."

Her hands left his wrists and balled into tight fists in front of her chest.

"Wh-what...?" he breathed, his eyes widening. He watched her lower lip tremble as she seemed to fight with herself in bringing her eyes up to meet his, failing to do so.

"I never get touched," she said quietly, as if the admission was somehow painful.

Drakken's jaw worked for a moment. "But...you...fight?"

She shook her head lightly. "Combat isn't the same. I never... Since I've never _let_ anyone get close..." Her eyes finally lifted to meet his, hesitant and uncertain. "I like it when you touch me. I... I want to be touched so bad, it hurts."

She looked like she might cry as her eyes pleaded with him. His hands were still hovering between them from where she had released them, but after swallowing nervously he slowly moved them up to hover over her shoulders. He watched as she took in a breath and held it, her eyes becoming hopeful. He lightly set his hands atop her shoulders, and she released her breath in a relieved and almost grateful sigh. Her eyes fell closed and her hands opened briefly, only to close back into fists in front of her chest a moment later.

Drakken let his hands become heavy as he watched her uncertainly, though he had to admit...the touch was something of a relief to him, too. He was surprised as she shifted closer to him, her left knee resting fully against his chest and her right leg drawing in to be more over his lap.

Drakken watched her in utter confusion. She'd told him that she'd spent her whole life avoiding men who would use her for depraved and immoral purposes, had admitted that he was the one and only man to ever see her naked, but now in apparent contrast to those fear-driven revelations she had almost begged him to touch her. It didn't make sense. But from the way her face was beginning to relax, maybe she had been right. Maybe a simple and safe human touch was what she really needed.

That thought was followed by sorrow as he suddenly recalled what had led to him slipping and falling in the first place. She was going to leave him. Even after he told her he didn't want her to go. He had taken the risk, shown her his feelings, told her she was his only friend... And she was going back to her brothers. Because he had told her to do whatever would make her happy.

And being with him wasn't it.

He closed his eyes tightly and let his hands move from her shoulders and slide slowly down her back beneath her mane of hair until they rested low on her waist, his fingers lightly gripping her soft flesh. It was the most he would allow himself, when what he really wanted was to hold all of her tightly to him and never let go.

He could go on without her... He knew he could. But, he didn't want to. Somehow...she had become more important than anything.

He realized she had tensed only when he felt her relax, and he swallowed nervously and leaned forward to be more comfortable. He opened his eyes to find her face less than an inch from his, and he gasped at the same time she turned her face away, his nose lightly brushing her cheek.

He closed his eyes again and against his better judgment pulled her even closer, a slight pressure from his left arm moving her leg nearer to him. And he let his right leg move up to touch her side. If he was going to lose her...he wanted to make the final moments last.

He wondered what it was he had done...since she said she had forgiven him for that night. Had it been one thing, or years of many things, that had motivated her to want to leave? It didn't make sense that she would have stayed for so long if it had been building up over time, so it was more likely something recent. Or several recent things.

With a grimace, he decided to blame the Lorwardians. Everything had been different even after their first arrival, back when he was still in prison. With a pang he suddenly realized...it must have been the failure before that which landed them both in prison, because she hadn't come back for him. She'd been broken out twice and mocked the fact that he was still locked up. And after Warmonga, Shego had seemed to only stay with him because she had nothing better to do. He hadn't had many great plans in those last several months, save the super hypollinator. And she hadn't really done anything one way or the other, either to nag him to come up with something or leave because he hadn't. She was just...there.

Had she been giving him the benefit of the doubt, hoping something would come up?

He swallowed painfully.

Had she only stayed because he was writing her a paycheck every month?

He felt like crying, but forbade himself from doing so. Four times in one night had been more than enough.

His failure as a villain was what had driven her away from him, and it was far too late to promise to do better. He would just have to accept the facts and...move on.

Only he didn't want to. He would miss the days when she was already in the lab when he walked in from sleeping too late, draped over his chair and filing her nails and giving him a judgmental look. He would miss her nagging him to come up with something better and her teasing him when the plan was too simple, because it really did motivate him. He would miss her idle comments that would inspire him, and her offhanded suggestions that ended up making a plan ten times better.

He would miss her smile, and her laugh. Whether it was in shared mocking of Kim Possible, excitement over a recent successful plan, or just her little personal moments of joy as she took a ridiculous quiz in a magazine...her smile was one of the highlights of his days.

Everything would be so empty without her smile.

He felt her take a deep breath, her ribs expanding beneath his hands, and then she let out a long sigh. As she did so, her face dropped against his nose again and his lips lightly brushed her cheek.

He pulled his head back quickly, blinking in fear. Had that just happened? It had. He worried suddenly that this newest accident would push her over the edge. He caught a glimpse of her wide eyes staring out the door into the dark, haunted and hurting, before she turned back to him in shock.

"S-sorry, I didn't... A-accident," he said quickly, his fingers fidgeting at her waist.

She blinked a few times and seemed to accept his answer, her gaze falling a moment later and the deeply troubled look returning.

He sighed in relief and closed his eyes again. A second later he was surprised to feel Shego's hands rest lightly on the sides of his shoulders. Her touch felt hesitant, as if she wasn't sure she should be doing it. He shook himself of wondering about her motivations since they didn't matter anymore—she was leaving and that was that—and instead allowed his mind to replay the brief moment when his lips had brushed against her cheek. He took note of how soft her skin had been against his lips, a welcome pleasure even if for the scarcest of moments.

Drakken's eyes flew open.

"Oh, oh no..." he breathed.

"What?" Shego asked, looking up at him even more uncertainly than before.

Drakken shook his head and looked away into the room at the sink, at the bed, at the fire...anywhere but at her.

His heart that had finally begun to relax was pounding again. He felt her fingers grip his shoulders slightly. He was suddenly very aware of his hands on her waist and a second later had released her and rolled back out of the intimate embrace. He heard her make a soft sound of protest, but he was already on his feet and walking briskly to stand in front of the fire, wringing his hands.

He _couldn't_ like the way it felt when he held her waist. He _couldn't_ enjoy the touch of his lips on her cheek. It was wrong—very, very wrong.

He paced back and forth in front of the small hearth, dead cockroaches crunching beneath his feet as he did so. He heard Shego come up behind him and he tensed.

"Drakken?" he heard her voice, soft and anxious.

He stopped and stared away into the corner, determined not to look at her. But his nerves were so on edge he wasn't sure his legs would hold him up for much longer. He turned quickly and sat on the bed, pulling his boots off so as to not get roach bits on the sheets as he scooted back and pressed himself into the corner, as far away from her he could get.

He drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly, making himself as inaccessible as possible as he stared with wide eyes at the wall less than an inch from his face, refusing to even give presence to the thought that had suddenly invaded his mind. But it came anyway, despite all the fight he put up against it.

_'I can't be in love with her... I'm not. It's just a...a silly thought, because of the way we were touching. This is why we shouldn't touch that way! It's just a silly thought...'_

"What is?"

Drakken turned with a start to see Shego sitting on the bed right behind him, leaning against the wall and also having removed her boots.

"I...I...what?"

"You said, 'It's just a silly thought.' What is?"

Drakken felt an uncomfortable tingle all across his skin. "N-nothing. I was just... Nothing," he said, shaking his head. He _had_ to learn to stop thinking aloud. That had been too close.

Shego's hand on his shoulder startled him, and he saw a look of hurt on her face as she pulled back at his reaction. He remembered painfully that she had practically begged him to touch her, and he had moved away so abruptly. But now...he was afraid to be so close to her for reasons he never would have dreamed.

He grit his teeth, determined to get his mind off of the new devastating thought and onto anything else. The first thing that flew out of his mouth before his mind could apply a filter was...

"What did I do wrong?"

Shego looked understandably confused, and Drakken bit his cheek hard. Why couldn't he learn to think before speaking...

"What?" she asked.

"Why...why don't you want to stay with me anymore?" he continued past the pain the words brought, closing his eyes and dropping his chin to his knees. "What did I do wrong? Is it because the Li'l Diablos failed and we went to prison?"

The only answer was rain and thunder, and after a moment Drakken opened his eyes to see Shego staring out into the empty room with that wide-eyed haunted look that had been perplexing him the whole of the evening. He tried to calm his breathing as he waited for her response.

"That wasn't your fault," she finally said with a sigh. "That one would have worked if not for Kim Possible."

It didn't escape his notice that she hadn't actually answered the question. His frustration with the entire day and night, even before it started raining, caused him to press on. He turned to face her and sat back on his heels.

"Then...what is it? Is it because I haven't come up with anything good since we got out? Or...is it because I saved the world?" he asked on impulse, wondering if his sudden switch to 'good' for the sake of not wanting to be an alien slave had upset her.

She stared at him for several seconds with that expression he couldn't read. She looked again like she might cry, and after a long moment she shook her head and looked down.

"No... Dr. D., it's not... You didn't do anything."

His chest tightened as his confusion grew. "What? But...then why...?"

She turned away suddenly and left him facing her wild mane of dark hair, slightly tangled from the way it had dried after being drenched in the rain. And after a moment, a shaky rise and fall of her shoulders let him know that she'd lost the reins on her tears.

He lifted his hand and then hesitated. Would she want to be consoled for whatever was hurting her? He held his breath and carefully set his hand on her shoulder. She tensed...and then her breaths came more unevenly as she further lost control.

Drakken scooted closer until he was almost touching her and set both hands on her shoulders, lightly moving her hair out of the way so he wouldn't accidentally pull any strands. A moment later she surprised him by leaning back against his forearms, sniffling quietly. He wanted to reach around and hug her...but he couldn't. Not when he couldn't see her face and know for sure it was okay. Not after everything she'd told him she'd been through. The need to be cautious about touching her was something he would never forget.

Several minutes passed as Shego cried silently and Drakken let her lean against his arms, his fingers lightly pressing into her shoulders from time to time. Gradually, her shaking calmed and he watched her grab the thin blanket that was piled at the foot of the bed and use it to dry her tears.

Her eyes were mournful as she turned to face him. Every other thought in his mind vanished, replaced only by the desire to make sure she was all right, whatever it took. He set his hands on her shoulders again and gently turned his thumbs around in circles.

"You didn't do anything," she said just above a whisper, her gaze falling. He struggled to hear her above the roar of the rain overhead. "It's just me. I...I can't stay. I'm sorry."

Despite himself, he let his hands slide down to her waist where he pulled her slightly closer, as if somehow physically holding on could keep her with him. "Why can't you?" he breathed desperately.

She glanced up at him briefly before her gaze fell again. And then she surprised him as she suddenly yanked her gloves off. Her lips set into a firm line as she looked up at him intently, and then slowly she lifted a hand and let it hover between them. He looked down at her hand and then to her uncertain eyes. Her lips had parted as she stared at him nervously. With painful slowness she brought her hand forward until her fingers brushed against his cheekbone, and then her hand was cupped against his jaw. She brought her face closer to his.

His hands fell from her waist and flew back to safety in front of his chest as his heart raced. "What are you doing?" he breathed.

Her eyes narrowed in determination. And then with a gentle hesitancy, her lips softly pressed against his.

He didn't dare move or breathe. It wasn't real. It couldn't be real... And then he closed his eyes and let himself feel the touch he hadn't known he was longing for. It was like a warming golden light, filling his veins and eliminating every last remaining thread of cold the storm had brought.

He wanted more. And that was the thought that caused him to open his eyes and slowly move back, staring at her in shock. His mind wouldn't work as her hand fell away from his face and her guarded eyes stared into his with expectancy.

The silence was uncomfortable. So he filled it.

"Was that your first kiss?" he asked slowly.

Her gaze fell briefly before she looked back up, the sadness returning to her eyes.

"Yes," she said, her cheeks flushing.

Drakken bit his cheek and felt the heat in his own face. "Mine too."

Shego's gaze fell again and she leaned on her side against the wall and ran her fingers through the ends of her hair.

"I can't stay, because... Because..."

Her voice dropped so low that he couldn't hear her above the rain, though he was certain she had spoken. He cautiously shook his head.

"I couldn't hear you," he said tentatively.

She glanced at him briefly. She took a shaky breath and she raised her voice just enough. He still had to strain to hear her.

"I love you...Dr. D. And it hurts too much."

Drakken's breath caught, and he stared at her for a long moment. He had to be dreaming. He began looking around the room to center himself, and when his eyes fell back on her face it was twisted in agony.

"You don't need to feel bad," she said, leaning her head back against the wall to stare up at the ceiling. "And don't worry about me when you go on and do...whatever. I'll get over it."

Drakken gripped Shego's elbows and turned her to him. A silent gasp left her lips as she watched him in a mixture of hope and uncertainty. He was still cautious about startling her so moved slowly as his hand moved up to her cheek and gently pushed her hair back, his fingers weaving into the thick strands. He slid his other arm all the way around her waist and pulled her tightly to him. And then he kissed her.

He wasn't sure what to do, and so it was several seconds before he hesitantly moved his lips against hers. She copied his action, and he felt her breath catch as he captured her upper lip between his. Again she copied him, and a second later he felt her hands sliding up his back until her hands gripped his shoulders and pulled them even closer together.

The following minutes were spent in mutual learning as the gentle pressing of lips and delicate brushes of noses became less hesitant and more familiar. The way in which they softly brought their lips together and then slowly pulled away only to do it again a split-second later with the slightest variation was the most electrifying sensation Drakken had ever experienced.

He never wanted it to end. But her fingers tightly digging into his shoulders, the way her lips suddenly seemed more aggressive, and the longing hum that sounded from deep in her chest set off enough alarms in his head that he slowly but deliberately pulled back so they could take a moment to reset. He didn't want either of them to do anything they would regret.

Her eyes were still closed when he looked at her, and when they opened they radiated hope. Her fingers clutched at his shoulders more tightly. And though his mouth ran ahead of his mind again, he knew this time it was precisely the right thing to say.

"I love you," he said, the words sounding strange for being said in his voice. He realized the last time he had said them had probably been to his childhood pet.

She softly released the breath she had been holding. She started to lean towards him again, but he pulled back enough to signal a stop to her. Her hands fell from his shoulders and she brought them around to rest in her lap. She blinked as she looked up at his soft smile.

"Then why didn't you tell me?" she asked, shaking her head slightly.

He knew why she was asking... They could have avoided a lot of anguish simply by being more up front with each other. But, that was it—he could just as easily turn the same question on her. He didn't.

"Because I...only figured it out about five minutes ago," he said, choosing honesty. And he realized he might never have made the connection if she'd not asked him to touch her, and they hadn't slowed down for the first time in the years they had known each other to just _be_ in a moment with each other.

But as he watched her face fall, he realized that something about his honest answer was wrong.

"You mean...the same way you figured out you want to be a neutral mad scientist or whatever?" she asked, her eyes darkening in worry. "You just...decided you love me...on a whim?"

Distrust was creeping back into her eyes, and his hand on her waist tightened as his fingers wove deeper into her hair.

"No! No, I..." He stared into her worried eyes as he shook his head to reassure her. He stayed on the honesty track, not knowing what else to do, and let his heart speak for him. "Shego, you're all I think about. You're the only thing...the only one who matters. And imagining life without you, is...worse than imagining death."

The fear and distrust that had been building in her eyes began to fade away. He softly stroked her cheek again, and then suddenly realizing how close they still were he found his cheeks flushing. Shego's expression slowly matched his, and she shifted to face him more fully and sat back on her heels, her knees on either side of his as she moved closer to him.

"H-how about a third kiss?" she asked with a nervous smile.

He grinned and leaned forward to meet her eager lips. Her hands found his face and tried to move into his hair, but his tight ponytail proved to be an obstacle. She pulled her face away and he felt her reach behind his head to pull the elastic band out of his hair. He took the moment to pull his gloves off just before her lips found his again, and finally he felt the softness of her cheeks under his fingertips. Her fingers moved into his hair on either side of his head, her nails gently scraping against his scalp. It was a soothing feeling and he moved his hands into her hair to mirror the action as their lips continued the new and wholly intimate way of getting to know each other.

A flash of lightning illuminating the cabin through the open door was their split-second warning before a deafening crack and roll of thunder that caused Drakken to gasp and throw his arms around her in a mixture of fear and protective instinct. She pressed into his chest as the rumbling continued in waves, and Drakken was suddenly aware of a change in the pressure of the air around them as the shock-wave from the lightning strike moved through the cabin. It felt as if even the walls shook from the closeness of the violent attack of the weather.

When the thunderous sound ceased and only the pouring rain remained, Drakken found his throat had gone dry.

"That...that was very close," he said, and was surprised to hear a tremor in his voice.

"Yeah..." Shego said quietly.

Drakken suddenly realized he was far, far too close to her than his new awareness of propriety allowed. But as he started to let of her, her fingers gripped tightly at the front of his coat.

"Sorry, is...is this all right?" he asked carefully, loosening his hold on her anyway.

She shifted off of her knees and he did the same, leaning back against the wall and stretching his legs out toward the edge of the bed. She re-folded her legs and pressed up against his side, her knees laying half-across his thigh as she continued to hold onto him. He shifted his arms around her nervously.

"It's fine," she said with a familiar impatience that caused his brow to rise. "It's...it's nice," she continued more gently, nestling her head into the crook of his shoulder. "And you don't have to ask every single time you accidentally grab me. I've never stopped you before, have I?"

The slight impatience was back, and he blinked in confusion at her words as he stared into the darkness outside the open door.

"But it's...it's important," he said, thinking back to her descriptions of the horrible reality of being a female heroine.

"Yes," she agreed, her grip on his coat loosening. "But it's okay. I trust you."

_"I trust you."_

The words rang in his head over and over, relief and peace growing in his heart each time. But he could still picture the terror and suspicion on her face from when they had first arrived at the cabin and he'd accidentally walked in on her. The memory compelled him.

"You do?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, snuggling into him.

A long, trembling sigh left his lips. Another flash of lightning illuminated the cabin, though not quite so close as the last when the rumble of the thunder wasn't quite as terrifying.

_"I trust you."_

He listened to her words in his mind again and let them bind the wounds her earlier behavior had left in his soul. The pain melted away as he chose to also trust her words and let them bring a different truth than the one he had so feared.

It wasn't him she was afraid of... It had just been the shock of what happened, and thoughts of the past. And she wanted him to touch her. She loved him.

She trusted him.

A rush of relief and joy sent his senses soaring, and without a second thought he brought the fingers of one hand beneath her jaw and gently tilted her face toward his. He had but a glimpse of the surprise in her eyes before he kissed her deeply. He heard and felt her sharp inhale of breath through her nostrils before she relaxed into the passionate embrace, her fingers weaving into his loose hair again and her fingernails tracing patterns on his scalp.

The rush he had felt began to grow into a fury, and familiar alarms began ringing in his head. It was with slowness and reluctance this time that he backed out of the kiss. The pleasured hum that sounded from deep in her chest didn't help with the sensations he knew he shouldn't be having.

"Oh...Drakken..." Her sigh was contented, yet longing.

He relaxed his arms around her and leaned back into the wall as he forced his focus elsewhere. The storm was the most distracting element around them and he listened to the unrelenting deluge as his fingers lightly stroked her hair. He wondered again how long they had been there. A flash of lightning illuminating the falling sheets of water through the door helped focus him, and unfortunately—or fortunately—reminded him that their predicament was in fact becoming more dire as the night wore on.

"Do you think there could be mudslides?" he asked as he imagined all of the horrible things the torrent could do to them.

"Maybe... I thought you were the one studying the topography," she said flatly.

Drakken's brow furrowed lightly. "It doesn't make sense that they would send us out with the storm coming."

Shego shifted slightly and curled closer to him. "I doubt Monkey Fist even has a lair around here."

Drakken turned to look down at her. She was glaring across the room, her expression dark but unfocused.

"Do you think...Global Justice was just trying to get rid of us?" he asked.

Shego's eyes pinched shut for a long moment. "Yeah. I'm the problem they've never been able to get rid of. Bad mark on their record."

Drakken yawned suddenly and wondered again how long they had been there.

"If the rain doesn't stop soon...we might have to stay here all night," he mused.

Shego shifted again. "We'll have to anyway. Even without the rain, it wouldn't be safe to go down this mountain in the dark—"

She broke off suddenly and tensed. Drakken turned to look down at her and was surprised to see her eyes wide filling with fear again. Her expression reminded him of that odd moment earlier when she had been terrified of nothing, though it wasn't nearly as bad.

"What is it?" he asked.

She swallowed slowly but didn't say anything.

He was confused. Everything had been fine... Better than fine, minutes ago. He considered his actions for a moment and was sure he hadn't crossed any lines. In fact she was the one pushing them to be closer. He thought about his words and found them wholly innocent as well.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he watched her troubled face. He instinctively loosened his arms around her and readied to move away if he discovered she wanted him to.

She blinked rapidly and he watched as she tried to calm herself from whatever thought had suddenly bothered her.

"Uh...yeah," she said after a long moment.

Drakken watched her cautiously as he slowly leaned back again. Another rumble of thunder overhead caused them both to tense, and he looked around the room as the old wood of the walls and ceiling creaked. He glanced at the fire and saw that the last of their makeshift firewood was rapidly disappearing. They would lose all of their warmth for the rest of the night when it finally burned out.

He shifted and looked at the aged, worn brown blanket that had earlier served as his only security while he had waited for his clothes to dry. And a horrible failure it had been, he recalled with a slight blush. It had also been pathetic in terms of providing any warmth...

Drakken's lips parted and he let out a slow breath as his eyes widened. He glanced at Shego who had released her hold on his coat. She was running her fingers through her tangled hair as she looked out into the room, her eyes still a bit troubled. And he grimaced as he understood why.

There were two of them. There was one bed.

He brought a hand up to rub his face as he realized he would be spending the night freezing on the floor. He really didn't mind for her sake. He wasn't about to suggest anything that would make her uncomfortable. And as he actually gave presence to the thought of the two of them in one bed...he wasn't comfortable with it either.

He sighed again as his brow furrowed. There might be more cockroaches.

He felt Shego turn, and he looked over to where she was now watching him wonderingly and slightly nervously. Every look on her face that night had been new, and strange, and un-Shego-like... But knowing the why behind all of them helped make everything feel a bit less obscure. All of her stress made perfect sense based on everything he'd told her. He couldn't fault her for any of it. Not even for wanting to leave because she thought he didn't love her.

"Shego..." he began thoughtfully, "how...how long have you loved me?"

Some of the disquiet left her eyes, and she shifted to face him a bit more as she answered.

"I realized it when the aliens took you," she said. "But I think it was after you..." she grimaced, "after Warmonga broke you out of prison."

He shifted to face her more too, letting one of his arms fall from where he still held her. "Why?"

She shrugged lightly. "You replaced me... And I found out...I didn't want to be replaced."

Drakken's face fell as he recalled the pain of betrayal he'd felt during those horrible days. He bit the inside of his cheek and banished the thoughts before they could take hold. Instead he thought of her earlier declaration of trust, and how relieved and happy it had made him feel.

And it suddenly occurred to him... It was far more than trust they were talking about. And far deeper than infatuation or attraction, if it was real.

 _If_ it was real?

If they were in love, then that meant...forever. Didn't it?

Shego was looking at him curiously, and he knew his mind had abandoned their conversation and left her hanging in a difficult place. But he had to follow through with the revelations he was suddenly having.

She'd said that she loved him. And he, that he loved her. And they had so easily fallen into each other's arms as if it was where they belonged... They were still there in fact, and it was so comfortable and natural that he didn't want it to end.

"Drakken?" Shego said nervously. He blinked and cleared his throat, wondering what his face must have looked like to her.

He thought about pulling her closer...and then he slowly let go of her altogether. She looked a bit startled as his hands retreated and she tensed slightly as she watched him curiously and waited.

He blinked a few more times as he considered... Did they really mean the depth of those time-defining words? Did they both really want...forever?

"What is it?" Shego said, shifting nervously and moving about an inch away from him. Her fingers twisted the ends of her hair in her lap.

"I love you," he said, his cheeks coloring. He blinked at her nervously.

A slight flush came to her face too, but he was watching the way the disquiet in her eyes started to leave and be replaced with a gentle warmth and comfort.

"I...I love you, too," she said, glancing down and running her fingers back through her hair. A soft, shy laugh escaped her smiling lips.

He was tempted to reach out and hold her again, but he didn't. He was thinking back to the pain he'd felt as he'd thought he was going to lose her and the emptiness life already seemed to have at the mere idea of her absence. And he thought of her simple, sad confession, that she had been ready to leave him because she loved him too much to stay, assuming the feelings weren't reciprocated.

"Shego..." His heart was suddenly racing, and his mouth dry. "Will you marry me?"

Her eyes widened and her lips parted as she gasped and took a long but shallow breath. A moment passed, and then another. She seemed frozen as she stared at him, the only sign of time passing the sound of the rain beating against the roof and the dim flickering of the firelight on her face.

Finally after what felt like over a minute, she blinked several times and looked down, her eyes darting from side to side.

"I...uh. I..."

Drakken swallowed somewhat painfully as his throat was still dry. And then he realized with some confusion that...he was okay. He didn't feel any pain of rejection or any sort of loss. _He_ knew he was ready for forever, after everything they had been through. But if she needed time...then he was willing to wait.

He shifted away from her slightly as a yawn broke out of his chest. Suddenly, he felt very drained. He glanced at the dying fire and wondered again if he was going to have to worry about anymore live cockroaches.

With a slight grimace, he picked up his gloves and tossed them onto the hearth. And with another yawn he started undoing the buttons of his coat.

Shego looked up quickly, her eyes widening.

"What are you doing?" she asked quickly, her voice quiet and tense.

"Getting ready for bed," he said as he carefully stood, minding the dead roaches, and peeled out of his coat. There was nowhere to hang it...which actually worked out, because he could lay upon it and hopefully provide that much of a barrier between him and any vermin.

As he considered where exactly in the small, leaky cabin to make his 'bed' for the remainder of the night he caught a glimpse of Shego's face. Her eyes were nervous and almost afraid. He wanted to shake his head at himself. It was very presumptive of him to be talking about marriage when she couldn't help herself but to be afraid of even the faintest suggestion of impropriety.

He decided that the floor against the wall opposite the bed was the best place to sleep and carefully picked his way across the floor to the spot. It was dry, free of roaches, and still close to the fire. He could continue to absorb the warmth for as long as the embers burned.

After dropping his coat on the floor he stepped over to the cabin door and closed it, the sound of the driving rain lessening ever so slightly. He went back to the wall and spread his coat out as much as he could and then sat upon it, already feeling more chilled without the extra layer of clothing. As he started to lay down he paused and looked back at Shego. His brow rose as he saw that she had drawn her knees up to her chest, crossed her legs at the ankles, and wrapped her arms tightly around her knees. If ever she had tried to give him a nonverbal signal and he'd missed it, he certainly wasn't missing that one.

"Could I have one of those pillows?" he asked, looking at the head of the bed. The two small pillows there were without cases and looked too thin to actually serve their designed purpose. But he supposed they were still better than nothing.

Shego's expression was unreadable as she blinked and reached for one of the pillows, tossing it to him a moment later. He caught it and tried to fluff it, but apparently the item's age had made it impervious to fluffing. He placed it atop his coat and then lay down on his side, curling up tight to retain as much heat as possible.

He looked across the room at Shego who was still staring at him, her gaze uneasy. He yawned again and smiled softly at her. As far as he was concerned...their forever had already begun.

After a long moment her brow furrowed and she glanced away, seeming troubled. "Um...you don't...have to do that, Dr. D."

"Yes," he said calmly, "I do." He was already colder, but his comfort couldn't come at the expense of hers.

She continued to look at him curiously and uncertainly as he just smiled back at her. Any night that could end with the promise of seeing her again the next day...would be a night he could sleep peacefully through.

After several silent minutes, three more yawns, and two from Shego, he started to feel his mind giving permission for rest to come. He blinked as he saw Shego slowly lay down on the bed across the room, watching him all the while as she pulled the thin and useless blanket up to her shoulders. He finally closed his eyes and listened to the ever-present rain. It seemed slightly less harsh as his mind began replaying the events of the evening.

The sound began lulling Drakken into sleep and he let his mind wander, the images soon swirling into a fog as he drifted closer and closer towards slumber. The images were all of that evening... Of cockroaches, and falling over backward in the rocking chair, and Shego's terrifying reminiscences reminding him that the way he defined evil was very different than the way too many others in the world did.

He regretted the misadventures of the evening, but he did wonder if without them they would have arrived at the same conclusion. Would he have even realized that he loved Shego? Would she have still had the boldness to confess?

There was no way to ever know. But as he thought about it, he was grateful too for the lesson he had learned about boundaries and assumptions. He would be much more aware of himself around Shego from that day on, and while she had said he didn't need to freak out about touching her...he wouldn't for a moment abuse the privilege ever again, even if he had only done so in innocence.

The feeling of their first kisses was the memory his mind settled on as the light of the fire finally died away and he fell prey to the cold. Gentle and hesitant and longing was what each kiss had been, and the very idea that he might get to experience that joy with her again brought a smile to his face in the darkness. He imagined...kissing her again and running his fingers through her hair...

The harshness of the rain had relented somewhat, but Drakken didn't notice as he tried to sleep. He slipped in and out of the needed rest, the sound of the rain a supplemental distraction to the real problem of the cold. In absence of the fire the temperature in the cabin had rapidly dropped, and Drakken was shivering violently. In one of his more wakeful moments he thought about putting his boots, gloves, and coat back on. But he wouldn't be able to find the smaller items in the dark. So he remained curled tightly against the cold, wooden wall as his frame shook.

The rumbling of the thunder had grown distant but failed to relent in frequency. It was another deterrent to his sleep, waking him each time he finally seemed able to ignore his surroundings and turn off his racing mind. A new pain of exhaustion was rapidly claiming presence over any other thought he might have had, and he found himself silently begging the darkness around him for rest.

"Drakken?" came a soft whisper.

His eyes opened, but he only saw black. He had almost forgotten Shego was there.

"Yes?" he whispered back.

"Come sleep here," she said.

Drakken's brow furrowed. "What? No..." he answered. She didn't really want that... She was just offering to be nice.

A moment passed, and then, "Come on," she said a little less quietly. She was trying to sound persuasive, he knew, but he could hear the uncertainty in her voice as it sounded out of the darkness.

"That's very...very generous of you, but no," Drakken said calmly.

Even the idea of being warmer had made him notice the cold more, and he pressed his hands between his thighs to warm them up. But there was absolutely no way he was going to join Shego in that bed.

Another moment passed. "Why not?" she asked.

Drakken used a hand to move his loose hair to cover one of his icy cheeks, an almost useless effort, but it made him feel better. He replaced his fingers between his thighs.

"Because you don't really want me there. And then you won't be able to get any sleep. You'll be afraid all night."

Something about the darkness made saying the words easier. And they were necessary so the discussion could end and he could try to get back to sleep. He really, really missed his boots and gloves, but he wasn't about to go hunting for them in pitch blackness amid the bodies of cockroaches. He did however shift until he could find the arms of his coat, and with great difficulty he shrugged back into the garment as he remained lying down.

"What are you doing?" Shego asked.

"Putting my coat back on."

A sudden green aura lit the room and startled him. He fell back and bumped his head against the wall, and then he blinked and squinted to see Shego leaning up on her side in the bed in the dim light.

"I can hear you shivering," she said, staring at him with a bit of a knowing look. But even in the dim glow he could make out the disquiet on her face.

He sighed. "It's very nice of you to consider me Shego, but I won't get any rest if I know you can't."

She shook her head slightly. "I can't sleep with you freezing over there. So just...come here. This bed is pretty big."

Drakken pursed his lips, but he did look at the bed as Shego sat up and stepped off of it, her hand brightening just a bit. It _was_ a double bed, and they could both fit without touching one another, though they would need to be very near the edges. He frowned as he realized he was considering it.

His coat tucked around him but undone, he lay back down and tried to get comfortable.

"No," he said.

He closed his eyes and waited for the glow to vanish and plunge them into darkness again. The last thing that day and night needed were more complications.

Suddenly the glow brightened. "Dr. D.!" Shego said impatiently.

He opened his eyes and saw clearly her narrowed ones, a familiar and almost welcome look of irritation on her face—welcome _because_ it was familiar, unlike almost everything else she had done that night.

"Get your blue behind over here before I make you."

He stared at her as he replayed the threat in his mind, analyzing the timbre of her voice, the set of her jaw, and the furrowing of her brow.

The words were steady, but her eyes were still uncertain.

He frowned and stood up, his joints hurting from the chill. He picked his way carefully across the floor in the light of her glow and paused when he reached the bed and was standing about three feet from her. The frustration had left her face and fully revealed her unease with the circumstance.

"Um. You go first," she said quickly.

Drakken sighed. "Shego, this isn't a good idea. You're not going to be able to get any sleep," he pleaded gently as he looked down at her.

"I don't want you to freeze," she came back quickly, though the insistence of her voice didn't meet her eyes.

"It's very thoughtful of you, but it just isn't going to work. Neither of us will get any rest with me...worrying about keeping my distance from you, and you lying awake all night with your...PTSD, and thinking I'm going to...that I'm going to...do something to you."

Her face fell, and he knew he'd hit on the truth of the situation. The only sounds in the room were the rain above—a bit lighter—and the soft sound of the heat of her glow displacing the air around her hand. The glow in fact was warming him slightly, even at the distance he stood. He longed to move closer to the warmth, but that was even more impractical since it would be horrible to ask her to stay awake all night and exhaust herself trying to warm them both.

"I...I know you won't," Shego said quietly, slowly looking up.

Drakken wondered if the shake in her shoulders was from cold, or something else.

"You might say that, but it doesn't really change anything."

She glanced away briefly and then met his eyes again. "It's not just that. It's..."

He couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw color rise in her cheeks in the green light that surrounded them.

"I...I do want to marry you."

Drakken's lips parted. "What?" he breathed, his voice barely sounding.

"I...yes. The answer's yes. I will marry you."

The fear was leaving her eyes as a smile replaced it. The soft upward curl of her lips was a mirror to his as he stared at her in awed disbelief.

He wanted to reach out and hold her and kiss her...but in the dark, he knew that wouldn't help her nerves. Instead he offered his hand to her, which she blinked at in uncertainty before she reached across the distance with her non-glowing hand. He noticed at her touch that she was distinctly warmer than him. A selfish desire to hold her close just so he could warm up prodded at the back of his mind, but he pushed it away with ease. He absolutely would not do anything against the wishes of...

Of the woman he loved...

"Can I kiss you?" he asked in a rush, joy quickly overriding everything else in his mind.

She blinked once in surprise, and then slowly nodded. He drew her to him and a second later their lips met, cold, but in a soft caress that was starting to become familiar. The light went out and a second later her arms were around him and her hands gripped his back. He pulled her tightly against him as the kiss deepened, their lips moving and exploring and enjoying the newfound intimacy.

The sensations flooding him built and built until he suddenly realized...he was thinking of the press of her body against his, the warmth and seeming perfection in the way they fit together, and of her soft curves and how he wanted to feel more of them. He slowly pulled his lips from hers and stared into the pitch blackness of the room. Her breaths were quick and hot on his face, and he felt her trembling in his arms.

He swallowed anxiously as he slowly let go of her and put his hands on her shoulders to make sure she moved away. When there was at least a foot of space between them, he released the breath he'd not realized he'd been holding.

"Can...we have some light?" he said quietly, noting the odd timbre of his voice. When her glow returned he made sure his face was turned from her, not trusting himself to meet her eyes. She might see in them the very thing he knew she feared, and he felt decidedly ashamed that he'd allowed his senses to run away with him.

He considered just going back to the wall and insisting that he sleep on the floor, but he knew it would start another argument. They were both stubborn and he knew she wasn't going to let it go.

"Hold on," he said as he walked back to the wall where he retrieved the pillow she'd tossed him earlier. He brought it back and dropped it at the head of the bed near the wall.

He heard her breath still as he slowly climbed onto the bed and lay down, pressing his back against the wall. He knew she would want the edge of the bed and the safe escape it offered. Against the wall, he was the one trapped.

"I'll just...stay right here," he said as he finally looked up to her face again. "And I promise, I won't touch you at all."

She had been running her eyes up and down the length of him lying on the bed now, his knees slightly bent and one arm folded beneath the thin pillow he'd lain his head on. Her eyes finally reached his and he saw...a very different uncertainty in them.

He looked away quickly as he realized, she had had the very same salacious thoughts as he had.

She wanted him too.

Drakken pursed his lips and closed his eyes. He wouldn't even allow that conversation to occur. The only thing happening that night, was sleep.

A few moments later he felt Shego crawl onto the bed and lay down, also lying on her side if the pressure on the mattress was any indication. The threadbare blanket was pulled up over his shoulders and presumably hers too, but he wasn't going to open his eyes.

Her glow went out and the light with it. He heard her fluff her pillow and lay her head down, shifting for several seconds to try to get comfortable. No part of her was touching him, and he knew that she was probably as far away on the mattress as she could safely be.

He slowly released his breath through his nostrils. It would be fine. As long as he didn't move, maybe she would relax enough to get sleep. And if she could relax, then he could sleep too.

He heard her take a shuddering breath. His brow twisted in confusion, and a moment later he could hear tiny movements occurring somewhere on the sheets between them.

He was startled suddenly as her warm fingers found his cool ones, and he recognized that the quiet sound had been her hand searching for his. A soft smile came to his lips...and then his eyes flew open in the dark as she picked up his hand and moved it to her waist and began sliding it down.

She placed his hand far too low on her hip than was appropriate, and then let go and left it resting there. He couldn't see anything in the pitch blackness, but he could hear her tense and shallow breaths as she waited to see what he would do.

He swallowed nervously and remained un-moving even as he became more and more aware of the soft curve beneath his fingers. He didn't need any explanation of her action; he knew exactly what she was doing.

It was her consent.

She was giving him permission to do...whatever he might do. His face twisted as too many emotions came over him at once, fear and sadness and desire and peace...

He allowed himself the briefest thought down the path of temptation. He had only realized he loved her hours before, but the gentle touch of her lips had awakened an instinct deep inside of him that he'd essentially ignored for his entire life. And now he longed to take her in his arms and make her his, to seal them together body and soul, inseparable for the rest of time.

He lightly lifted his hand from where she had placed it. But instead of following her curves lower, he carefully and cautiously moved his hand up to her shoulder, and then along her arm until he found her hand again.

He both heard and felt her holding her breath as she waited to see what he would do with what she had offered him. And his chest ached and warmed all at once knowing the depth of trust it meant she truly had in him. Any remaining pain of what he had experienced earlier that night fell off of him in an instant.

He took her hand firmly in his and brought her fingers up to his lips. He kissed them long and soft, and then set her hand back down between them, continuing to gently hold her fingers.

"I love you, Shego," he whispered into the dark. "I'll...see you in the morning."

He listened to her deep, relieved sigh and was certain beyond any doubt that he had made the only right choice. He smiled as he closed his eyes again and felt a deep and complete peace for the first time that night.

After a moment he felt her fingers curl more tightly in his, and another, much softer sigh left her lips. It was content, completely void of any anxiety.

"Good night, Dr. D."

Love, and only love, was in her voice.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So my favorite tropes.... They are:
> 
>   * Love confession/how they got together. <3
>   * Aaaaangst fiiiiiic. 8)
>   * Couples trapped by rain in old cabins. (And yes, I know GT and Ducky already wrote versions of this trope... In GT's words, I'm completing the circle!)
>   * Characters accidentally seeing each other naked. (Lolololol.)
>   * Two characters who ought not share a bed...sharing a bed. (Inspired by the LAM trope!)
>   * And my fave specific Drakgo-inspired trope, the post-Graduation fic! I could probably write a couple dozen of those...
> 

> 
> Hope you enjoyed. Thank you for reading!


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